B V 



85^ 



»J 



•St.! 





(lass BVj-e ^O 



Book, 



M& 



if 34- 

PRESENTED 3V 



A 



x*< 






k 



AN 



ALARM 



TO 



UN C OK VERTED SINNERS 



IN 



A Serious Treatise on Conversion* 



BY JOSEPH ALLEINE. 



PUBLISHED BY THE 

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

NO. 150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW-YORK* 



O. Fanshaw, Printer. 



2,\J 






V* 



%*C 



* # * In this Edition some obsolete words and phrases are 
altered, and a few passages omitted. — The Author's Six 
Questions lo the Unconverted, and Counsels for the Con- 
verted are added- 



■ 



Paga, 
INTRODUCTION. 

An Earnest Invitation to Sinners to turn to God, in or- 
der to their eternal salvation, 5 

CHAPTER I. 

Showing what Conversion is not, and correcting some 
Mistakes about it, 7 

CHAPTER II. 
Showing positively what Conversion is, - 14 

CHAPTER III. 
Of the Necessity of Conversion, . 42 

CHAPTER IV. 

Showing the Marks of the Unconverted, - -63 

CHAPTER V. 

Showing the Miseries of the Unconverted, - - 78 

CHAPTER VI. 
Containing Directions to the Unconverted, - 104 

CHAPTER VII. 

Containing the Motives to Conversion ... 133 

Six Questions to the Unconverted, ... 147 

Conclusion, 150 



Counsels for the Converted, « 159 



• 6 a 



INTRODUCTION. 



AN EARNEST INVITATION TO SINNERS TO TURN 
TO GOD. 

Dearly beloved, I gladly acknowledge myself a debtor 
to you all, and am concerned, as I would be found a 
good steward to the household of God, to give to every 
one his portion. But the physician is most solicitous 
for those patients whose case is most doubtful and haz- 
ardous ; and the father's concern is especially turned 
toward his dying child. So unconverted souls among 
you call for special solicitude and earnest effort to pluck 
them as brands from the burning ; therefore to them I 
shall first apply myself in these lines. 

But whence shall I fetch my argument ? Wherewith 
shall I win them ? O that I could tell ! I would write 
to them in tears, I would weep out every argument, I 
would empty my veins for ink, I would petition them 
on my knees. O how thankful should I be if they would 
be prevailed with to repent and live ! 

How long have I labored for you ! How often would 
I have gathered you ! This is what I have prayed for 
and studied for these many years, that I might bring you 
to God. O that I might now do it ! Will you yet be en- 
treated ? 

But, Lord, how insufficient am I for this work? Alas ! 
wherewith shall I pierce the scales of Leviathan, or 
make the heart to feel that it is as hard as adamant, hard 
as the nether mill-stone 1 Shall I go and speak to the 
tenants of the grave, and hope the dead will obey me 
1* 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

and come forth ? Shall I make an oration to the rocks, 
or declaim to the mountains, and think to move them 
with arguments ? Shall I give the blind to see ? From 
the beginning of the world was it not heard that a man 
opened the eyes of the blind ; but thou, Lord, canst 
pierce the heart of the sinner ; I can but draw the bow 
at a venture, but do thou direct the arrow, slay the sin, 
and save the soul of the sinner that casts his eyes on 
these pages. 

There is no entering into heaven but by the strait 
passage of the second birth ; " without holiness you 
shall never see God." Now set yourselves then to seek 
him. Set up the Lord Jesus in your hearts— kiss the 
Son, embrace the tenders of mercy, touch his sceptre 
and live ; for why will ye die ? I beg not for myself, 
but would have you happy : this is the prize I run for 
My soul's desire and prayer for you is, that you may 
be saved. 

What greater joy to a minister than to hear of souls 
born unto Christ by his instrumentality 1 

I beseech you suffer plainness and freedom with you 
in your deepest concern. I am not playing the orator, 
these lines are upon a weighty errand indeed — to con- 
vince, to convert, and to save you. If I would quiet a 
crying infant, I might sing to him in a pleasing mood, 
and rock him asleep; but when the child is fallen into 
the fire, the parent takes another course ; he will not 
try to still him with a song or a trifle. I know, if we 
succeed not with you, you are lost ; if we cannot get 
your consent to " arise and come away," you perish 
for ever : no conversion, and no salvation : we must 
get your good will, or leave you miserable. 

Some of you do not know what I mean by conver- 
sion, and in vain shall I attempt to persuade you to that 



Chap. I.J MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION. 7 

which you do not understand 5 therefore for your sakes 
I will show what this conversion is. Others cherish se- 
cret hopes of mercy, though they continue as they are; 
and for them I must show the necessity of conversion. 
Others are like to harden themselves with a vain con- 
ceit that they are converted already ; to them I must show 
the marks of the unconverted. Others, because they feel 
no harm, fear none, and so sleep upon the top of the 
mast ; to them I shall show the misery of the uncon- 
verted. Others sit still, because they see not their way 
of escape ; to them I shall show the means of conver- 
sion. And finally, for the quickening of all, I shall 
close with the motives to conversion* 



CHAPTER I. 

Showing what Conversion is not, and correcting some mistakes 
about it. 

Let the blind Samaritans worship they know not 
what, John, 4 : 22. Let the heathen Athenians inscribe 
their altar " To the unknown God." Acts 17 : 22. Let 
Papists commend ignorance as the mother of devotion. 
They that know man's constitution, and the nature of 
the reasonable soul's operation, cannot but know that 
the understanding has such empire in the soul, that he 
who will go rationally to work must labor to let in 
light there. And therefore, that you may not mistake 
me, I shall first show you what 1 mean by conversion. 

Truly the devil hath made many counterfeits of 
conversion, and cheats one with this, and another with 
that; and such craft and artifice he hath in his mystery 



8 MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION. 

of deceits, that (if it were possible) he would deceive 
the very elect. Now, that I may cure the ruinous mis- 
take of some who think they are converted when they 
are not, I shall show you the nature of conversion, both 
what it is not, and what it is. 

We will begin w r ith the negative. 

It is not the taking upon us the profession of Chris- 
tianity. Christianity is more than a name. If we will 
hear Paul, it lies not in word, but in power. 1 Cor. 4 : 
20. And are there not many that mention the name 
of the Lord Jesus, that yet depart not from iniquity ? 
2 Tim. 2:19, and "profess they know God, but in 
works deny him ?" Titus, 1 : 16. And will God re- 
ceive these for true converts ? What ! converts from 
sin, when yet they live in sin ! We find not only pro- 
fessors, but preachers of Christ, and wonder-workers, 
rejected because evil-workers. Matt. 7 : 22, 23. 

It is not putting on the badge of Christ in baptism. 
Ananias, and Sapphira, and Simon Magus were baptized 
as well as the rest. How fondly do many mistake here, 
deceiving and being deceived! dreaming that effectual 
grace is necessarily tied to the external administration 
of baptism, (which, what is it but to revive the popish 
tenet of the sacraments working grace?) and thus, that 
every baptized person is regenerated, not only sacra- 
mentally, but really and properly ! Hence men fancy, 
that, being regenerated already when baptized, they 
need no farther work. 

But if this were so, then all that have been baptized 
must necessarily be saved, because the promise of par- 
don and salvation is made to conversion and regenera- 
tion. Acts, 3 : 19. Matt. 19 : 28. 

And indeed, were conversion and baptism the same, 
then men would do well to carry but a certificate of 



Chap. I.J MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION. 9 

their baptism when they died, and upon sight of this 
there were no doubt of their admission into heaven. 

In short, if there be no more necessary to conver- 
sion, or regeneration, than to be baptized, this will fly 
directly in the face of that scripture, Matt. 7 : 13, 14, 
as well as multitudes of others. For, first, we shall 
then no more say, "Strait is the gate, and narrow is 
the way;" for if all that were baptized are saved, the 
door is exceeding wide, and we shall henceforth say, 
"Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth 
unto life." For if this be true, thousands may go in 
abreast; and we will no more teach that the righteous 
are scarcely saved, or that there is need of such a stir 
in taking the kingdom of heaven by violence, and striv- 
ing to enter in. Surely, if the way be so easy as ma- 
ny suppose, that there is little more necessary than to 
be baptized and to cry, " Lord, have mercy," we need 
not put ourselves to such seeking, and knocking, and 
wrestling, as the word requires in order to salvation. 
Secondly, if this be true, we shall no more say, "few 
there be that find it;" yea, we will rather say, "few 
there be that miss it." We shall no more say, that of 
the "many" that are "called, but few are chosen," 
Matt. 22 : 14, and that even of the professing " Israel 
but a remnant shall be saved." Rom. 9:27. If this 
doctrine be true, we shall not say any more with the 
disciples, " W T ho then shall be saved ?" but rather, 
who then shall not be saved ? Then, if a man be bap- 
tized, though he be a fornicator, or arailer or covetous, 
or a drunkard, yet he shall inherit the kingdom of God. 
ICor. 5:11, and 6:9, 10. 

But some will reply, Such as these, though they did 
receive regenerating grace in baptism, are since fallen 
away, and must be renewed again or else they cannot 
be saved. 



10 MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION. [Chap. I. 

I answer, 1, That there is an infallible connection 
between regeneration and salvation, as we have already 
shown; and I long to be farther evidencing, but that it 
is against designed brevity. 2. Then man must be 
born again a second time, which carries a great deal of 
absurdity in its face: and why may not men be twice 
born in nature as well as in grace? But, 3, and above 
all, this grants however the thing I contend for, that 
whatever men do or pretend to receive in baptism, if 
they be found afterward to be grossly ignorant, or 
profane, or formal, without the power of godliness, 
they "must be born again," or else be shut out of the 
kingdom of God. So then they must have more to 
plead for themselves than their baptismal regeneration. 

Well, in this you see all are agreed, that, be it more 
or less that is received in baptism, if men are evident- 
ly unsanctified, they must be renewed again by a tho- 
rough and powerful change, or else they cannot escape 
the damnation of hell. Then K be not deceived ; God 
is not mocked." Whether it be your baptism, or what- 
ever else you pretend, I tell you from the living God, 
that if any of you be a prayerless person, or unclean, 
or malicious, or covetous, or riotous, or a scoffer, or a 
lover of evil company, Prov. 13 : 20, in a word, if 
you are not a holy, strict, and self-denying Christian, 
you cannot be saved. 

Paul, while unconverted, touching the righteousness 
which is in the law, was blameless. The Pharisee 
could say, "I am no extortioner, adulterer, unjust," &c. 
Thou must have something more than all this to show, 
or else,however thou mayest justify thyself, God will 
condemn thee. I condemn not morality, but warn thee 
not to rest in it: piety includes morality, as Christianity 
doth humanity, and grace reason ; but we must not 
divide the tables. 



I.J MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION. 11 

II H also manifest that men may have a/: 
lines?, without the power. Men may pray long, and 
fast often, and hear gladly, and be very forward in the 
service of God. though costly and expensive, and yet 
be strangers to conversion. They must have more to 

id than that they go to church, give alms, and make 
use of prayer, to prove themselves sound converts. 

:-/e is no outward service but a hypocrite may do it, 
even to the "' giving all his goods to feed the poor, and 
"dy to be burned/' 
Conversion is not the mere chaining up of corrup- 
lucation, human laws, or the force of incum- 
bent arHiction. It is too common and easy to mistake 
education for grace ; but if this were enough, who a 
better man than Jehoash ? While Jehoiada his mi 
lived, he was very forward in God's service, and i 
upon him to repair the house oi the Lord. "2 Kings. 12 : 
2. 7 : — but here was nothing more than good educai 
ail this while ; for when his good tutor was taken out oi 
the way. he appears to have been but a wolf chained up, 
and falls into idolatry. 

In short, conversion consists not in illumination or 
conviction, in a superficial change or partial reforma- 
tion. An apostate may be an rd man. and a 
Felix tremble under conviction, and a Herod do ma 
things. It is one thing to have sin alarmed 

::s. and another to have it crucified by con- 

ing grace. Many, because they have been trou- 
bled in conscience for their sins, think irell .' 
case, miserabiy ig conviction for conversi 

With these Cain might have passed for a convert, who 
ran up and down the world like a man distracted, under 
the rage of a guilty conscience. Ot I be- 

cause they have given over their riotous courses, and 



12 MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION. [ Chap. L 

are broken off from evil company or some particular 
lust, and are reduced to sobriety and civilitj , they are 
now no other than real converts ; forgetting that there 
is a vast difference between being sanctified and civil- 
ized 5 and that many seek to enter into the kingdom of 
heaven, and are not far from it, and arrive to the almost 
of Christianity, and yet fall short at last. While con- 
science holds the whip over them, many will pray, hear, 
read, and forbear their delightful sins ; but no sooner 
is the lion asleep than they are at their sins again. Who 
more religious than the Jews when God's hand was 
upon them : yet no sooner was the affliction over, than 
they forgot God. Thou mayst have forsaken a trouble- 
some sin, and have escaped the gross pollutions of the 
world, and yet in all this not have changed thy carnal 
nature. 

You may cast lead out of the rude mass into the more 
comely proportion of a plant, and then into the shape 
of a beast, and thence into the form and features of a 
man, yet all the while it is but lead still ; so a man may 
pass through divers transmutations, from ignoranee to 
knowledge, fiom profaneness to civility, thence to a 
form of religion, and all this time he is but carnal and 
unregenerate whilst his nature remains unchanged. 

Hear then, O sinners, hear as you would live. Why 
would you wilfully deceive yourselves, or build your 
hopes upon the sand ? I know that he may find hard 
work that goes to pluck away your hopes. It cannot but 
be ungrateful to you, and truly it is not pleasing to me. 
I set about it as a surgeon when about to cut off a mor- 
tified limb from his well-beloved friend, which of ne- 
cessity he must do, though with an aching heart. But 
understand me — I am only taking down the ruinous 
house, which will otherwise speedily fall of itself anJ 



Chap. I.J MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION. 13 

bury you in the ruins, that I may build it fair, strong, 
and firm for ever. The hope of the wicked shall perish. 
And hadst not thou better, O sinner, let the word con- 
vince thee now in time, and let go thy false and self- 
deluding hopes, than have death too late to open thine 
eyes, and mid thyself in hell before thou art aware ? I 
should be a false and faithless shepherd if I should not 
tell you, that you, who have built your hopes upon no 
better grounds than these before mentioned, are yet in 
your sins. Let conscience speak : What is it that you 
have to plead for yourselves ? Is it that you wear 
Christ's livery ? that you bear his name? that you are 
of the visible church ? that you have knowledge in the 
points of religion, are civilized, perform religious duties, 
are just in your dealings, have been troubled in con- 
science for your sins ? I tell you from the Lord, these 
pleas will never be accepted at God's bar ; all this, 
though good in itself, will not prove you converted, 
and so will not suffice to your salvation. look about 
you and bethink yourselves of turning speedily and 
entirely. Study your own hearts ; rest not till God has 
made thorough work with you ; for you must be other 
men, or else you are lost men. 

But if these characters be short of conversion, what 
shall I say of the profane sinner? It may be he will 
scarcely cast his eyes or lend his ear to this discourse ; 
but if there be any such reading or within hearing, he 
must know from the Lord that made him, that he is 
far from the kingdom of God. May a man be true in 
his dealings, and yet not be justified of God ? what then 
will become of thee, wretched man, whose con- 
science tells thee thou art false in thy trade, and false 
to thy word, and makest thy advantage by a lying 
tongue? If men may be enlightened and brought 

2 Alarm. 



14 THE NATURE OP CONVERSION. [.Chap II 

to the external performance of holy duties, and yet 
go down to perdition for resting in them and sitting 
down on this side of conversion, what will become 
of you, O miserable families, that live without God 
in the world ? and of you, O wretched sinners, with 
whom God is scarcely in all your thoughts ; that are 
so ignorant that you cannot, or so careless that you 
will not pray ? O repent and be converted ; break ofl 
your sins by righteousness ; away to Christ for pardon- 
ing and renewing grace ; give up yourselves to him, to 
walk with him in holiness, or you shall never see God. 
O that you would take the warnings of God ! In his 
name I once more admonish you : turn ye at my re- 
proof. Forsake the foolish, and live. Be sober, righte- 
ous, and godly. Wash your hands, ye sinners ; purify 
your hearts, ye double-minded. Cease to do evil, learn 
to do well. But if you will not, you must die. 



CHAPTER II. 
Showing positively what Conversion is. 

I may not leave you with your eyes half open, like 
him that saw " men as trees walking." The word is 
profitable for doctrine as well as reproof. And therefore, 
having thus exposed some dangerous mistakes, I would 
guide you at length into the way of truth. 

Conversion then, in short, lies in the thorough change 
both of the heart and life. I shall briefly describe it in 
its nature and causes. 

1. The author is the Spirit of God, and therefore it is 
called " the sanctification of the Spirit," and " the re- 
newing of the Holy Ghost," yet not excluding the othej 



Chap. II. J THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 15 

persons in the Trinity ; for the apostle teacheth lis to 
" bless the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for that he 
hath begotten us again." And Christ is said to give re- 
pentance unto Israel, and is called the " everlasting Fa- 
theiV' and we his seed, and the children which God 
hath given him. Yet this work is principally ascribed 
to the Holy Ghost, and so we are said to be " born of 
the Spirit." 

So then regeneration is a work of God : " We are 
born, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, 
but of God." John, 1 : 13. If ever thou wouldst be sav- 
ingly converted, thou must despair of doing it in thine 
own strength. It is a resurrection from the dead, Eph. 
2 : 1, a new creation, Gal. 6 : 15 ; Eph. 2 : 10, a work 
of absolute omnipotence, Eph. 1 : 19. If thou hast no 
more than thou hadst by thy first birth, a good nature, 
a meek and chaste temper, &c. thou art a stranger to 
true conversion ; this is a supernatural work. 

2. The causes are efficient and meritorious. The 
efficient cause is only free grace. " Not by works of 
righteousness which we have done, but of his mercy he 
saved us," and " by the renewing of the Holy Ghost." 
" Of his own will begat he us." 

God finds nothing in man to excite his complacency. 
Look back upon thyself, Christian ! Do not thine 
own clothes abhor thee ? Job, 9 : 31. How then should 
holiness and pureness love thee ? Be astonished, O hea- 
vens, at this ; be moved, O earth. Who but must needs 
cry, grace ! grace ! Hear and blush, ye children of the 
Most High — O ye unthankful generation! that free 
grace is no more in your mouths, in your thoughts ; no 
more adored, admired, and commended by such aa 
you ! One would think you should be doing nothing 
but praising and admiring God wherever you are. 



16 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [Chap. II 

How can you forget such grace, or pass it over with a 
slight and formal mention ? What but free grace could 
move God to love you, unless enmity could do it, un- 
less deformity could do it ? How affectionately doth 
Peter lift up his hands I " Blessed be the God and Fa- 
ther of our Lord Jesus, who of his abundant merc> 
hath begotten us again.' 5 How feelingly doth Paul 
magnify the free mercy of God in it ! " God who is 
rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he has 
loved us, hath quickened us together with Christ, By 
grace ye are saved." 

The meritorious cause is the mediation and inter- 
cession of the blessed Jesus. He hath obtained gifts for 
the rebellious, and through him it is that God worketh 
in us what is well pleasing in his sight. Through him 
are all spiritual blessings bestowed upon us in heavenly 
things. Every convert is the fruit of his travail. He is 
made sanctification to us. He sanctified himself, (that 
is, set apart himself as a sacrifice,) that we may be 
sanctified. 

It is nothing then beyond his own love, but the me- 
rit and intercession of Christ, that prevails with God 
to bestow on us converting grace. If thou art a new 
creature, thou knowest to whom thou owest it; to 
Christ's agonies and prayers. And whither else shouldst 
thou go ? If any in the world can show that for thy 
heart which Christ can, let them do it. Doth Satan claim 
thee ? Doth the world court thee? Doth sin sue for 
thy heart 1 Why ? were these crucified for thee ? O 
Christian, love and serve the Lord whilst thou nast a 
being. 

3. The instrument is either personal or real. The 
personal is the ministry. I have begotten you in Christ 
through the Gospel. Christ's ministers are they that 



Chap. II. | THE NATURE OP CONVERSION. 17 

are sent to open men's eyes, and to turn them to God» 
Acts, 26 : 18. 

O unthankful world, little do you know what you 
are doing while you are slighting the messengers of 
the Lord ! These are they whose business it is (under 
Christ) to save you. Whom have you reproached and 
blasphemed ? Against whom have you exalted your 
voice, and lifted your eyes on high 1 " These are the 
servants of the most high God, that show unto you the 
way of salvation," and do you thus requite them, O 
foolish and unwise! O sons of ingratitude! against 
whom do ye sport yourselves ! These are the instru- 
ments that God uses to convert and save sinners : and 
do you revile your physicians, and throw your pilots 
overboard ? " Father, forgive them ; for they know 
not what they do." 

The real instrument is the word. We are begotten 
by the word of truth. This it is that enlightens the 
eye ; that converts the soul, Psalm 19 : 7, 8 ; that mak- 
eth wise to salvation. 2 Tim. 3 : 15. This is the in- 
corruptible seed, by which we are born again. 1 Pet. 
i : 23. If we are washed, it is by the word. Eph. 5 : 
26. If we are sanctified, it is through the truth. John, 
17 : 17. 

O ye saints, how should ye love the word ! for by 
this you have been converted : O ye sinners, how 
should you ply the word ! for by means of this you 
must be converted. You that have felt its renewing 
power, make much of it while you live ; be for ever 
thankful for it ; tie it about your neck ; write it upon 
your hand ; lay it in your bosom. When you go, let 
it lead you ; when you sleep, let it keep you ; when you 
wake, let it talk with you : say with holy David, " I 
will never f jrget thy precepts, for by them thou hast 
2* 



18 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [Chap. II. 

quickened me." You that are unconverted, read the 
word with diligence; flock to it where powerfully 
preached: pray for the coming of the Spirit in the 
word; come from your knees to the sermon, and come 
to your knees from the sermon. The seed doth not 
prosper, because not watered by prayers and tears, nor 
covered by meditation. 

4. The final cause is maris salvation, and GocFs 
glory. We are chosen through sanctification to salva- 
tion ; called that we might be glorified ; but especially 
that God might be glorified, that we should " show 
forth his praise," and " be fruitful in good works." O 
Christian ! do not forget the end of thy calling ; " let 
thy light shine," let thy lamp burn ; let thy fruits be 
good, and many, and in season; let all thy designs fall 
in with God's, that he may " be magnified in thee." 

5. The subject is the sinner, and that in all his parts 
and powers, members and mind. Thou beginnest at 
the wrong end, if thou disputest first about thine elec- 
tion. Prove thy conversion, and then never doubt of 
thy election : or, canst thou not yet prove it ? set upon 
a present and thorough turning. Whatever God's pur- 
poses be, (which are secret,) I am sure his precepts are 
plain. How desperately do rebels argue ! if I am elected 
I shall be saved, do what I will; if not, I shall be damn- 
ed, do what I can. Perverse sinner! wilt thou begin 
where thou shouldest end? Is not the word before 
thee ? What saith it? " Repent and be converted, that 
your sins may be blotted out." " If you mortify the 
deeds of the body you shall live." " Believe and be 
saved." What can be plainer ? Do not stand still dis- 
puting about thine election, but set to repenting and 
believing; cry to God for converting grace. Revealed 
things belong to thee ; in these busy thyself. It is just 



Chap. II.] THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 19 

(as one well said) that they who will not feed on the 
plain food of the word should be choked with the 
bones. Whatever God's purposes be, I am sure his 
promises are true; whatever the decrees of heaven be 
I am sure that if I repent and believe, I shall be saved 
and that if I repent not, I shall be damned. Is not 
here plain ground for thee ? and wilt thou yet run 
upon the rocks ? 

More particularly, this change of conversion passes 
throughout the whole man. A carnal person may 
have some shreds of good morality, but he is never 
good throughout the whole body of holiness and Chris- 
tianity. Conversion is not repairing of the old build 
ing ; but it takes all down, and erects a new structure . 
it is not the putting in a patch of holiness; but with 
the true convert holiness is woven into all his powers, 
principles, arifi practice. The sincere Christian is quite 
a new fabric, from the foundation to the top-stone. He 
is a new man, a new creature. All things are become 
new. Conversion is a deep work, a heart-work. It goes 
throughout with men, throughout the mind, through- 
out the members, throughout the motions of the 
whole life. 

I. Throughout the mind. It makes a universal 
change within. 

1. It turns the balance of the judgment ; so that God 
and his glory do weigh down all carnal and worldly 
interests. It opens the eye of the mind, and makes the 
scales of its native ignorance to fall off, and turns men 
from darkness to light. The man that before saw no 
danger in his condition, now concludes himself lost, 
and for ever undone, except renewed by the power 01 



20 THE NATURE CF CONVERSION. [Chap. II. 

grace. He that formerly thought there was little hurt 
in sin, now comes to see it to be the chief of evils ; he 
sees the unreasonableness, the unrighteousness, the de- 
formity and filthiness of sin ; so that he is affrighted 
with it, loathes it, dreads it, flees from it, and even ab- 
hors himself for it. He that could see little sin in him- 
self, and could find no matter for confession, now sees 
the rottenness of his heart, the desperate and deep pol- 
lution of his whole nature ; he cries, Unclean, unclean: 
Lord ; purge me with hyssop, wash me thoroughly, 
create in me a clean heart. He sees himself altogether 
filthy, corrupt, both root and tree ; he writes unclean 
upon all his parts, and powers, and performances; he 
discovers the filthy corners that he was never aware of, 
and sees the blasphemy, and theft, and murder, and 
adultery, that is in his heart, which before he was ig- 
norant of. 

Heretofore he saw no form nor comeliness in Christ, 
nor beauty, that he should desire him ; but now he 
finds the hidden treasure, and will sell all to buy this 
field. Christ is the pearl he seeks. 

Now, according to this new light, the man is of an- 
other mind, another judgment, than he was before. 
Now God is all with him, he hath none in heaven, nor 
in earth like him ; he prefers him truly before all the 
world; his favor is his life, the light of his counte- 
nance is more than corn, or wine, and oil. A hypo- 
crite may come to yield a general assent to this, that 
God is the chief good ; yea, the wiser heathens (some 
few of them) have at last stumbled upon this: but 
there is a difference between the absolute and compa- 
rative judgment of the understanding. No hypocrite 
comes so far as to look upon God as the most desirable 
and suitable good to him, and thereupon to acquiesce 



Chap. II. J THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 21 

in him. This is the convert's voice : " The Lord is my 
portion, saith my soul. Whom have I in heaven but 
thee 1 and there is none upon earth that I desire beside 
thee. God is the strength of my heart, and my portion 
for ever." 

2. It turns the bias of the will both as to means and 
end. The intentions of the will are altered. Now the 
man hath new ends and designs ; now he intends God 
above all, and desires and designs nothing in all the 
world so much as that Christ may be magnified in him. 
He counts himself more happy in this than in all that 
the earth could yield, that he may be serviceable to 
Christ, and bring him glory. This is the mark he 
aims at, that the name of Jesus may be great in the 
world. 

Reader, dost thou view this, and never ask thyself 
whether it be thus with thee ? Pause a while, and 
breathe on this great concern. 

The choice is also changed. He pitcheth upon God 
as his blessedness, and upon Christ and holiness as 
means to bring him to God. He chooseth Jesus for 
his Lord. He is not merely forced to Christ by the 
storm, nor doth he take Christ for bare necessity, but 
he comes freely; he deliberately resolves that Christ 
is his best choice, and would rather have him than all 
the good of this world, might he enjoy it while he 
would. Again, he takes holiness for his path ; he does 
not of mere necessity submit to it, but he likes and 
loves it: "/have chosen the way of thy precepts/ 1 
He takes God's testimonies, not as his bondage, but as 
his heritage ; yea, heritage for ever. He counts them 
not his burden, but his bliss; not his cords, but his 
cordials. He does not only bear, but takes up Christ's 
yoke : he takes not holiness as the stomach does the 



22 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [Chap. II, 

loathed potion, (which a man will take rather than 
die,) but as the hungry doth his beloved food. No 
time passeth so sweetly with him (when he is him- 
self) as that he spends in the exercises of holiness. 
These are both his aliment and element, the desire of 
his eyes and the joy of his heart. Put thy conscience 
to it as thou goest, whether thou art the man. O hap- 
py man, if this be thy case! But see thou be impartial 
in the decision. 

3. It turns the bent of the affections. These run all 
in a new channel. Christ is his hope. This is his 
prize. Here his eye is : here his heart. He is con- 
tented to cast all overboard, (as the merchant in the 
storm ready to perish,) so he may but keep this jewel. 

The first of his desires is not after gold, but grace. 
He hungers after it, he seeks it as silver, he digs for it 
as for hid treasure ; he had rather be gracious than be 
great ; he had rather be the holiest man on earth than 
the most learned, the most famous, the most prosper- 
ous. While carnal, he said, if I were but in great 
esteem, rolling in wealth, and swimming in pleasure I 
if my debts were paid, and I and mine provided for, 
then I were a happy man ! but now the tone is changed. 
O ! saith the convert, if I had but my corruptions sub- 
dued, if I had such measures of grace, such fellowship 
with God, though I were poor and despised 1 should 
not care, I should account myself a blessed man. Read- 
er, is this the language of thy soul? 

His joys are changed. He rejoiceth in the ways oi 
God's testimonies as much as in all riches. He de- 
lights in the law of the Lord, wherein once he had 
little savor. He hath no such joy as in the thoughts 
of Christ, the fruition of his company, the prosperity 
of his people. 



Chap. 11. J THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 23 

His cares are quite altered. He was once set for 
the world; now his cry is, "What shall I do to be 
saved?" His great solicitude is to secure his soul. 
O how would he bless you if you qould but put him 
out of doubt of this ! 

His fears, however, are not so much of suffering as 
of sinning. Once he was afraid of nothing so much 
as the loss of his estate or reputation; nothing sound- 
ed so terrible to him as pain, or poverty, or disgrace ; 
now these are little to him, in comparison of God's 
dishonor or displeasure. How warily doth he walk, 
lest he should tread upon a snare ! He feareth alway ; 
he hath his eye upon his heart, and is ever watchful 
lest he should be overtaken with sin. No thought in 
the world would pain him so much as to think of part- 
ing with Christ. 

His love runs a new course. My love was crucified, 
(saith Ignatius,) that is, my Christ. This is my be- 
loved, saith the spouse. Cant. 5: 16. 

How doth Augustine often pour his love upon Christ ! 
O "eternal blessedness!" &c. He can find no words 
sweet enough. "Let me see thee, O light of mine 
eyes. Come, O thou joy of my spirit. Let me behold 
thee, life of my soul. Appear unto me, O my great 
delight, my sweet comfort: my God, my life, and 
the whole glory of my soul. Let me find thee, O de- 
sire of my heart. Let me hold thee, O love of my soul. 
Let me embrace thee, O heavenly bridegroom. Let 
me possess thee!" 

His sorrows have now a new vent. The view of his 
sins, the sight of Christ crucified, that could scarcely 
stir him before, now how much do they affect his heart ! 

His hatred boils, his anger burns against sin. He 
bath no patience with himself: he calls himself fool 



24 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [Chap. II 

and beast, and thinks any name too good for himself, 
when his indignation is stirred up against sin. Psalm 
73 : 22. Prov. 30 : 2. He could once delight in it with 
much pleasure; now he loathes the thought of return- 
ing to it. 

Commune then with thine own heart, and attend the 
general current of thine affections, whether they be 
toward God in Christ above all other concernments. 
Indeed, sudden and strong motions of the affections 
are oft-times found in hypocrites, especially where the 
natural temperament is warm. And, contrariwise, the 
sanctified themselves are many times without sensible 
stirring of the affections, where the temper is more 
slow, dry, and dull. The great inquiry is, whether the 
judgment and will be steadily determined for God 
above all other good, real or apparent ; if so, and if the 
affections do sincerely follow their choice and conduct, 
though it be not so strongly and sensibly as is to be 
desired, there is no doubt but the change is saving. 

II. Throughout the members. Those that were be- 
fore the instruments of sin, are now become the holy 
utensils of Christ's living kingdom. He that before 
dishonored his body, now possesses his vessel in sanc- 
tification and honor, in temperance, chastity, and so- 
briety, and dedicates it to the Lord. 

Thd eye that was once a wandering eye, a wanton 
eye, a haughty, a covetous eye, is now employed (as 
Mary's) in weeping over its sins, in beholding God in 
his works, in reading his word, or in looking for ob- 
jects of mercy and opportunities for his service. 

The ear that was once open to Satan's call, is now 
open to the voice of Christ's house, and to his disci- 
pline. It saith. " Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.' 1 



Chap. II.] THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 25 

It waits for his words as the rain, and relishes them 
more than the appointed food, " more than the honey 
and the honey-comb." 

The head that was the shop of worldly designs, is 
now filled with other matters, and set on the study of 
God's will, and the man employs his head not so much 
about his gain as about his duty. The thoughts and 
cares that fill his head are, principally, how he may 
please God and flee sin. 

His heart that was filled with filthy lusts, is now be- 
come an altar of incense, where the fire of divine love 
is ever kept burning, and whence the daily sacrifices 
of prayer and praise, and the sweet incense of holy de- 
sires, ejaculations, and prayers, are continually as- 
cending. 

The mouth is become a well of life, his tongue as 
choice silver, and his lips feed many ; now the salt of 
grace has seasoned his speech, has eaten cut the cor- 
ruption, Col. 4 : 6, and cleansed the mouth from its 
filthy communication, flattery, boasting, and backbiting, 
that once came like flashes that proceeded from the 
hell that was in the heart. The throat, that was once 
an open sepulchre, now sends forth the sweet breath of 
prayer and holy discourses, and the man speaks in ano- 
ther tongue, even the language of Canaan, and is never 
so well as when talking of God and Christ, and the 
matters of another world. His mouth bringeth wisdom ; 
his tongue is become the silver trumpet of his Maker's 
praise, his glory, and the best member that he hath. 

Now here you will find the hypocrite sadly deficient. 
He speaks (it may be) like an angel, but he hath a co- 
vetous eye, or the gain of unrighteousness in his hand ; 
or the hand is white, but his heart is full of rottenness, 
Matt 23 : 27, full of un mortified cares, a very oven of 

3 Alarum 



28 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. LChap. II. 

lust, a shop of pride, the seat of malice. It may be, 
with Nebuchadnezzar's image, he hath a golden head, 
a great deal of knowledge ; but he hath feet of clay, 
his affections are worldly, he minds earthly things, and 
his way and walk are sensual and carnal. 

III. Throughout the life and practice, the new man 
takes a new course. His " conversation is in heaven." 
No sooner doth Christ call by effectual grace, but he 
straightway becomes a " follower of him." When God 
hath given the new heart, and written his law in his 
mind, he forthwith walks in his statutes, and keeps his 
judgments. 

Though sin may dwell (truly a wearisome and un- 
welcome guest) in him, yet it hath " no more domi- 
nion over him." " He hath his fruit unto holiness," 
and though he makes many a blot, yet the law of life 
and Jesus is what he looks at as his copy, and he hath 
an unfeigned respect to all God's commandments, 
making conscience even of every duty. His very infir- 
mities, which he cannot help though he would, are his 
soul's burden, and are like the dust in a man's eye, 
which though but little, yet is not a little troublesome. 
(0 man ! dost thou read this and never turn in upon 
thy soul by self-examination?) The sincere convert 
is not one man at the place of worship and another at 
home ; he is not a saint on his knees, and a cheat in 
his shop ; he will not tithe mint and cummin, and ne- 
glect mercy and judgment, and the weighty matters 
of the law ; he doth not pretend to piety and neglect 
morality ; but he turns from all his sins, and keeps all 
God's statutes, though not perfectly, (except in desire 
and endeavor,) yet sincerely; not allowing himself in 
the breach of any. Now he delights in the word and 



Chap. II. J THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 27 

sets himself to prayer, and opens his hand and draws 
out his soul to the hungry. " He breaketh off his sins 
by righteousness, and his iniquities by showing mercy 
to the poor," and hath " a good conscience, willing in 
all things to live honestly," and to keep it without of- 
fence toward God and man. 

Here again you mid the unsoundness of many pro- 
fessors who consider themselves good Christians ; they 
are partial in the law, and take up with the cheap and 
easy duties of religion, but go not through with the 
work. It may be you find them exact in their wwds, 
punctual in their dealings, but then they do not exer- 
cise themselves unto godliness ; and as for examining 
themselves and governing their hearts, to this they are 
strangers. You may see them duly at the church ; but 
follow them to their families, and there you shall see 
little but the world minded ; or if they have family 
duties, follow them to their closets, and there you shall 
find their souls are little looked after. It may be they 
seem otherwise religious, but bridle not their tongues, 
and so " all their religion is vain." It may be they 
come up to closet and family prayer ; but follow them 
to their shops, and there you find them in the habit of 
lying, or some covert and fashionable way of deceit. 
Thus the hypocrite goes not throughout in the course 
of his obedience. 

The objects from which we turn in conversion are, 
sin, Satan, the world, and our own righteousness. 

1. Sin. When a man is converted, he is for ever at 
enmity with sin ; yea, with all sin, but most of all with 
his own sins, and especially with his bosom sin. Sin 
Is now the object of his indignation. His sins swell his 



28 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. | Chap. II. 

sorrows. It is sin that pierces him and wounds him , 
he feels it like a thorn in his side, like a prick in hia 
eyes : he groans and struggles under it, and not for 
mally, but feelingly cries out, " O wretched man !" He 
is not impatient of any burden so much as of his sin. 
If God should give him his choice, he would choose 
any affliction so he might be rid of sin ; he feels it like 
the cutting gravel in his shoes, pricking and paining 
him as he goes. 

Before conversion, he had light thoughts of sin ; he 
cherished it in his bosom, as Uriah his lamb ; he nou- 
rished it up, and it grew up together with him ; it did 
eat, as it were, of his own meat, and drank of his own 
cup> and lay in his bosom, and was to him as a daugh- 
ter. But when God opens his eyes by conversion, he 
throws it away with abhorrence, as a man would a 
loathsome toad, which in the dark he had hugged fast 
in his bosom, and thought it had been some pretty and 
harmless bird. When a man is savingly changed, he 
is deeply convinced not only of the danger but the de • 
filement of sin : and O how earnest is he with God to 
be purified ! he loathes himself for his sins. He runs to 
Christ, and casts himself into the fountain set open for 
sin and for uncleanness. If he fall, he has no rest till 
he flees to the word, and washes in the infinite foun- 
tain, laboring to cleanse himself from all filthiness 
both of flesh and spirit : he abhors his once beloved 
sin, as a cleanly nature doth the mire wherein he sees 
the swine delight. 

The sound convert is heartily engaged against sin ; 
he struggles with it, he wars against it ; he is too often 
foiled, but he will never yield the cause, nor lay down 
the weapons, while he hath breath in his body; he will 
make no peace ; he will give no quarter. He can for- 



Chap. II. | THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 29 

give his other enemies ; he can pity them, and pray for 
them ; but here he is implacable, here he is set upon 
extermination; he hunteth as it were for the pre- 
cious life ; his eyes shall not pity, his hand shall not 
spare, though it be a right hand or a right eye. Be it 
a gainful sin, most delightful to his nature or the sup- 
port of his esteem with worldly friends, yet he will ra- 
ther throw his gain down the kennel, see his credit 
fall, or the flower of pleasure wither in his hand, than 
he will allow himself in any known way of sin. He 
will grant no indulgence, he will give no toleration ; 
he draws upon sin wherever he meets it, and frowns 
upon it with this unwelcome salute, "Havel found 
thee, mine enemy ?" 

Reader, hath conscience been at work while thou 
hast been looking over these lines? Hast thou pon- 
dered these things in thy heart ? Hast thou searched 
the book within, to see if these things be so? If not, 
read it again, and make thy conscience speak, whether 
or not it be thus with thee. 

Hast thou crucified thy flesh with its affections and 
lusts ? and not only confessed, but forsaken thy sins, 
all sin in thy fervent desires, and the ordinary practice 
of every deliberate and wilful sin in thy life? If not, 
thou art yet unconverted. Doth not conscience fly in 
thy face as thou readest, and tell thee that thou livest 
in a way of lying for thy advantage; that thou usest 
deceit in thy calling; that there is some way of secret 
wantonness that thou livest in? why then, do not de- 
ceive thyself; thou art in the gall of bitterness and the 
bond of iniquity. 

Doth not thy unbridled tongue, thy indulgence of 
appetite, thy wicked company, thy neglect of prayer, 
of reading and hearing the word, now witness against 
3* 



80 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [_Chap. II, 

thee, and say, "We are thy works, and we will follow 
thee?" Or, if I have not hit thee right, doth not the 
monitor within tell thee, there is such or such a way 
that thou knowest to be evil, that yet for some carnal 
respect thou dost tolerate thyself in ? If this be thy 
case, thou art to this day unregenerate, and must be 
changed or condemned. 

2. Satan. Conversion binds^the strong man, spoils 
his armor, casts out his goods, turns men from the 
power of Satan unto God. Before, the devil could no 
sooner hold up his finger to the sinner to call him to 
his wicked company, sinful games, and filthy delights, 
but presently he followed, like an ox to the slaughter, 
and a fool to the correction of the stocks ; as the bird 
that hasteth to the prey, and knoweth not that it is for 
his life. No sooner could Satan bid him lie, but pre- 
sently he had it on his tongue. No sooner could Satan 
offer a wanton object, but he was stung with lust. If 
the devil says, "Away with these family duties," be 
sure they shall be rarely enough performed in his 
house. If the devil says, "Away w T ith this strictness, 
thispreciseness," he will keep far enough from it: if 
he tells him, "There is no need of these closet-duties," 
lie shall go from day to day and scarcely perform 
them. But since he is converted he serves another 
Master, and takes quite another course : he goes and 
comes at Christ's bidding. Satan may sometimes catch 
his foot in a trap, but he will no longer be a willing 
captive; he watches against the snares and baits of 
Satan, and studies to be acquainted with his devices; 
he is very suspicious of his plots, and is very jealous 
in what comes across him, lest Satan should have some 
design upon him; he "wrestles against principalities 
and powers ; ' he entertains the messenger of Satan 



Chap. II. J THE NATURE OP CONVERSION. 31 

as men do the messenger of death ; he keeps his eye 
upon his enemy, and watches in his duties, lest Satan 
should put in his foot. 

3. The World. Before a man has lively faith, he is 
overcome of the world; either he bows down to mam- 
mon, or idolizes his reputation, or is a "lover of plea- 
sure more than a lover of God." Here is the root of 
man's misery by the fall; he is turned aside to the 
creature, and gives that esteem, confidence, and affec- 
tion to the creature, that is due to God alone. 

O miserable man, what a deformed monster hath sin 
made thee! God made thee "little lower than the an- 
gels; 5 ' sin, little better than the devils; a monster that 
hath his head and heart where his feet should be. 
The world that was formed to serve thee, is come to 
rule thee,— the deceitful harlot hath bewitched thee 
with her enchantments, and made thee bow down and 
serve her. 

But converting grace sets all in order again, and 
puts God on the throne, and the world at his footstool; 
Christ in the heart, and the world under the feet. So 
Paul, "I am crucified to the world, and the world to me." 
Before this change, all the cry was, "Who will show 
us any worldly good?" but now he prays, "Lord, lift 
thou up the light of thy countenance upon me," and 
take the corn and wine whoso will. Before, his heart's 
delight and content were in the world; then the song 
was, "Soul, take thy ease, eat, drink, and be merry; 
thou hast much goods laid up for many years;" but 
now all this is withered, and there is no comeliness, 
that we should desire it; and he tunes up with the 
sweet Psalmist of Israel: "The Lord is the portion of 
my inheritance; the lines are fallen to me in a fair 
place, and I have a goodly heritage." He blesseth him' 



32 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [Chap. IL 

self, and boasteth himself in God. Nothing else can 
give him content. He hath written vanity and vexa- 
tion upon all his worldly enjoyments, and loss and 
dung upon all human excellencies. He hath life and 
immortality now in pursuit. He pants for grace and 
glory, and hath a crown incorruptible in view. His 
heart is set in him to seek the Lord. He first seeks 
the kingdom of heaven and the righteousness thereof, 
and religion is no longer a matter by-the-by with him, 
but his main care. 

Before, the world had the sway with him ; he would 
do more for gain than godliness, more to please his 
friend, or his flesh, than the God that made him ; and 
God must stand by till the world was first served. 
But now all must stand by ; he hates father and mo- 
ther, and life, and all, in comparison of Christ. Well 
then, pause a little, and look within. Doth not this 
nearly concern thee ? Thou pretendest for Christ, but 
does not the world sway thee ? Dost thou not take 
more real delight and content in the world than in him ? 
Bost thou not find thyself better at ease when the 
world goes to thy mind, and thou art compassed with 
carnal delights, than when retired to prayer and medi- 
tation in thy closet, or attending upon God's word and 
worship ? No surer evidence of an unconverted state, 
than to have the things of the world uppermost in our 
aim, love, and estimation. 

With the sound convert, Christ has the supremacy. 
How dear is his name to him! How precious is his 
favor! The name of Jesus is engraven on his heart, 
Gal. 4 : 19, and lies as a bundle of myrrh between his 
breasts. Cant. 1 : 13, 14. Honor is but air, and laugh- 
ter is but madness, and mammon is fallen like dagon 
before the ark, with hands and head broken off on the 



Chap. II. J THE NATURE OP CONVERSION. 83 

threshold, when once Christ is savingly revealed. Here 
is the pearl of great price to the true convert ; here is 
his treasure, here is his hope. This is his glory ; my 
beloved is mine> and I am his. O ! it is sweeter to him 
to be able to say> Christ is mine, than if he could say, 
the kingdom is mine, the Indies are mine. 

4. Our own righteousness. Before conversion, man 
seeks to cover himself with his own fig-leaves, and to 
make himself whole with his own duties. He is apt 
to trust in himself, and set up his own righteousness, 
and to reckon his counters for gold, and not submit 
to the righteousness of God. But conversion changes 
his mind ; now he casts away his filthy rags, and 
counts his own righteousness as a filthy cloth. He 
casts it off, as a man would the dirty tatters of a beg- 
gar. Now he is brought to poverty of spirit, complains 
of and condemns himself, and all his inventory is, 
"poor, and miserable, and wretched, and blind, and 
naked." He sees a world of iniquity in his holy things, 
and calls his once idolized righteousness but filth and 
loss ; and would not for a thousand worlds be found 
m it. Now he begins to set a high price upon Christ's 
righteousness : he sees the need of Christ in every duty, 
to justify his person, and sanctify his performances ; 
lie cannot live without him : he cannot pray without 
him. Christ must go with hi m, or else he cannot come 
into the presence of God ; he leans upon Christ, and 
so bows himself in the house of his God ; he sets him- 
self down for a lost undone man without him ; his life 
is hid in Christ, as the root of a tree spreads in the 
earth for stability and nutriment. Before, the news of 
Christ was a stale and tasteless thing, but now how 
sweet is Christ ! Augustine could not relish his before 
so much admired Cicero, because he could not find in 



34 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. | Chap. II 

his writing the name of Christ! How emphatically 
cries he, " O most sweet, most loving, most kind, mosi 
dear, most precious, most desired, most lovely, most 
fair !" &c. Meditat. c. 37, all in a breath, when he speaks 
of and to his Christ. In a word, the voice of the con- 
vert is with the martyr, "None but Christ." 

The ultimate end to which we turn in conversion is, 
God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; whom the true 
convert takes as his all-sufficient and eternal blessed- 
ness. A man is never truly sanctified till his very 
heart be in truth set upon God above all things, as his 
portion and chief good. These are the natural breath- 
ings of a believer's heart: "Thou art my portion." 
"My soul shall make her boast in the Lord." "My 
expectation is from him ; he only is my rock and my 
salvation ; he is my defence ; in God is my salvation 
and glory ; the rock of my strength, and my refuge is 
in God." 

Would you put it to an issue, whether you be con- 
verted or not ? Now let thy soul and all that is within 
thee attend. 

Hast thou taken God for thy happiness ? Where doth 
the content of thy heart lie ? Whence doth ihy choicest 
comfort come in ? Come then, and with Abraham lift 
up thine eyes eastward, and westward, and northward, 
and southward, and cast about thee, what is it that 
thou wouldst have in heaven or on earth to make theo 
happy 1 If God should give thee thy choice, as he did 
to Solomon, or should say to thee, as Ahasuerus to 
Esther, " What is thy petition, and what is thy request, 
and it shall be granted thee ?" what wouldst thou ask? 
Go into the gardens of pleasure, and gather all the fra- 
grant flowers thence : would these content thee ? Go 



Chap. II. J THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 35 

to the treasures of Mammon j suppose thou mightest 
lade thyself as thou wouldst from hence. Go to the 
towers, to the trophies of honor ; what thinkest thou 
of being a man of renown, and having a name like the 
name of the great men of the earth ? Would any of 
this, all this suffice thee, and make thee count thyself 
happy 1 If so, then certainly thou art carnal and un- 
converted. If not, go farther ; wade into the divine ex- 
cellences, the store of his mercies, the hiding of his pow- 
er, the depths unfathomable of his all-sufficiency. Doth 
this suit thee best and please thee most ? Dost thou 
say, " It is good to be here" — " Here will I pitch, here 
will I live and die ?" Wilt thou let all the world go ra- 
ther than this ? Then it is well between God and thee : 
happy art thou, O man — happy art thou that ever thou 
wast born. If a God can make thee happy, thou must 
be happy ; for thou hast avouched the Lord to be thy 
God. Dost thou say to Christ as he to us, " Thy Fa- 
ther shall be my Father, and thy God my God ?" Here 
is the turning point ; an unsound professor never takes 
up his rest in God, but converting grace does the work, 
and so cures the fatal misery of the fall, by turning the 
heart from its idol to the living God. Now, says the 
soul, " Lord, whither shall I go ? Thou hast the words 
of eternal life." Here he centres, here he settles. It 
is the entrance of heaven to him ; he sees his interest 
in God. When he discovers this, he saith, " Return 
unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt boun- 
tifully with thee." And he is even ready to breathe out 
Simeon's song, " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant de- 
part in peace;" and saith with Jacob, when his old heart 
revived at the welcome tidings, " It is enough." When 
he sees he hath a God in covenant to go to, " this is all 
his salvation and all his desire." 



36 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. | Chap If, 

Is this thy case ? hast thou experienced this ? Why 
then, " blessed art thou of the Lord ;" God hath been at 
work with thee ; he hath laid hold on thy heart by the 
power of converting grace, or else thou couldst never 
have done this. 

God effects this work through Christ, the only Me- 
diator between God and man. 1 Tim. 2 : 5. His work 
is to bring us to God. 1 Pet. 3 : 18. He is the way to 
the Father, John, 14 : 6, the only plank on which we 
may escape, the only door by which we may enter. 
John, 10 : 9. Conversion brings over the soul to Christ 
to accept him as the only means of life, as the only 
way, the only name given under heaven. He looks not 
for salvation in any other but him ; he throws himself 
on Christ alone, as one that would cast himself wit h 
spread arms upon the sea. 

" Here (saith the convinced sinner) I will venture 5 
and if I perish, I perish 5 if I die, I will die here. But, 
Lord, suffer me not to perish under the eye of thy 
mercy. Entreat me not to leave thee, or to turn away 
from following after thee." Ruth, 1 : 16. " Here I will 
throw myself, if thou kill me." " I will not go from 
thy door." 

Thus the poor soul doth venture on Christ and re- 
solutely adhere to him. Before conversion, the man 
made light of Christ, minded his farm, friends, mer- 
chandise, more than Christ ; now Christ is to hwn as 
his necessary food, his daily bread, the life of his heart, 
the staff of his life. His great desire is, that Christ 
may be magnified in him. His heart once said, as they 
to the spouse, " What is thy beloved more than ano- 
ther?" Cant. 5:9. He found more sweetness in his 
merry company, wicked games, earthly delights, than 
in Christ. He took religion for a fancy, and the talk 



Chap. II -J THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 37 

of great enjoyments for an idle dream ; but now to him 
to live is Christ. He sets light by all that he accounted 
precious, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. 

All of Christ is accepted by the sincere convert : he 
loves not only the wages but the work of Christ ; not 
only the benefits but the burden of Christ; he is will- 
ing not only to tread out the corn, but to draw under 
the yoke ; he takes up the commands of Christ, yeaj 
and cross of Christ. 

The unsound closeth by halves with Christ ; he is all 
for the salvation of Christ, but he is not for sanctinca- 
tion ; he divides the offices and benefits of Christ. This 
is an error in the foundation. Whoso loveth life, let 
him beware here; it is an undoing mistake, of which 
you have been often warned, and yet none more com- 
mon. Jesus is a sweet name ; but men " love not the 
Lord Jesus in sincerity." They will not have him as 
God offers, " to be a Prince and a Savior." They di- 
vide what God has joined, the king and the priest : yea, 
they will not accept the salvation of Christ as he in- 
tends it ; they divide it here. Every man's vote is for 
salvation from suffering ; but they desire not to be saved 
from sinning; they would have their lives saved, but 
withal would have their lusts. Yea, many divide here 
again ; they would be content to have some of their 
sins destroyed, but they cannot leave the lap of Delilah, 
or divorce the beloved Herodias : they cannot be cruel 
to the right eye or right hand : the Lord must pardon 
them in this thing. be carefully scrupulous here: 
your souls depend upon it. The sound convert takes 
a whole Christ, and takes him for all intents and pur- 
poses, without exceptions, without limitations, without 
reserve. He is willing to have Christ upon any terms; 
he is willing to have the dominion of Christ, as well as 

4 Alarm. 



88 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [Chap. U 

deliverance by Christ; he saith, with Paul, "Lord, 
what wilt thou have me to do ?" Any thing, Lord. 
He sends the blank to Christ, to set down his own 
conditions. 

The heart that was once set against the laws, ordi- 
nances, and ways of Christ, and could not endure the 
strictness of these bonds, the severity of these ways, 
now falls in with them, and chooses them as its rule 
and guide for ever. 

Four things, I observe, God doth work in every 
sound convert, with reference to the laws and ways of 
Christ; by which you may come to know your state, 
if you will be faithful to your own souls, and therefore 
keep your eyes upon your hearts as you go along. 

1. The judgment is brought to approve of them, and 
subscribe to them, as most righteous and most reason- 
able. The mind is brought to like the ways of God; 
and the corrupt prejudices that were once against them, 
as unreasonable and intolerable, are now removed. 
The understanding assents to them all, as holy, just, 
and good. Rom. 7 : 12. How is David taken up with 
the excellences of God's laws ! how doth he expatiate 
on their praises, both from their inherent qualities and 
admirable effects ! Psalm 19 : 8, 9, 10, &c. 

There is a twofold judgment of the understanding. 
The absolute judgment is, when a man thinks such a 
course best in the general, but not for him, or not under 
his present circumstances. Now, a godly man's judg- 
ment is for the ways of God, and that not only the ab- 
solute, but comparative judgment ; he thinks them not 
only the best in general, but best for him : he looks 
upon the rules of religion not only as tolerable, but de- 



Chap. II. | THE NATT7RE OF CONVERSION. 39 

sirable; yea, more desirable than gold, fine gold; yea, 
much fine gold. 

His judgment is fully determined that it is best to 
be holy, that it is best to be strict, that it is in itself 
the most eligible course, and that it is for him the wisest 
and most rational and desirable choice. Hear the godly 
man's judgment : " I know, O Lord, that thy judg- 
ments are right ; I love thy commandments above gold, 
yea, above fine gold ; I esteem all thy precepts con- 
cerning all things to be right ; and I hate every false 
way." Mark, he approves of all that God requires, and 
disallows of all that he forbids. " Righteous, O Lord, 
and upright are thy judgments. Thy testimonies that 
thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful. 
Thy word is true from the beginning, and every one 
of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever." See 
how readily and fully he subscribes ; he declares his 
assent and consent to it, and all and every thing therein 
contained. 

2. The desire of the heart is to know the whole mind 
of Christ. He would not have one sin undiscovered, 
nor be ignorant of one duty required. It is the natural 
and earnest breathing of a sanctified heart: " Lord, if 
there be any way of wickedness in me, do thou dis- 
cover it. What I know not, teach thou me: and if I 
have done iniquity, I will do it no more." The unsound 
is willingly ignorant, loves not to come to the light. 
He is willing to keep such or such a sin, and therefore 
is loth to know it to be a sin, and will not let in the 
light at that window. Now the gracious heart is will- 
ing to know the whole latitude and compass of his 
Maker's law. He receives with all acceptation the 
word which convinceth him of any duty that he knew 
not, or minded not before, or which discovereth any 
sin that lay hid before. 



40 THE NATURE OP CONVERSION. [Chap. II 

3. The free and decided choice of the will is for the 

ways of Christ, before all the pleasures of sin and pros- 
perities of the world. His consent is not extorted by 
some extremity of anguish, nor is it only a sudden and 
hasty resolve, but he is deliberately purposed, and 
comes off freely to the choice. True, the flesh will 
rebel, yet the prevailing part of his will is for Christ's 
laws and government; so that he takes them not up as 
his toil or burden, but his bliss. While the unsancti- 
fled goes in Christ's ways as in chains and fetters, he 
does it heartily, and counts Christ's laws his liberty. 
He delights in the beauties of holiness, and has this in- 
separable mark, " That he had rather (if he might have 
his choice) live a strict and holy life, than the most 
prosperous and flourishing mere worldly life." " There 
went with Saul a band of men whose hearts God had 
touched." When God toucheth the hearts o,f his chosen, 
they presently follow Christ, and (though drawn) do 
freely run after him, and willingly devote themselves 
to the service of the Lord, seeking him with then 
whole desire. Fear hath its use ; but this is not the 
main spring of motion with a sanctified heart. Christ 
keeps not his subjects by force, but is king of a willing 
people. They are, through his grace, freely devoted 
to his service ; they serve out of choice, not as slaves, 
but as the son or spouse, from a spring of love and a 
loyal mind. In a word, the laws of Christ are the con* 
vert's love, delight, and continual study. 

4. The bent of his course is directed to keep God's 
statutes. It is the daily care of his life to walk with 
God. He seeks great things, he hath noble designs, 
though he fall too short. He aims at nothing less than 
perfection : he desires it, he reaches after it ; he would 
not rest in any degree of grace, till he were quite rid 
of sin, and had perfect holiness. 



Chap. II. J THE NATURE OP CONVERSION. 4J 

Here the hypocrite's rottenness may be discovered. 
He desires holiness (as one well said) only as a bridge 
to heaven, and inquires earnestly what is the least that 
will serve his turn ; and if he can get but so much as 
may bring him to heaven ; this is all he cares for. But 
the sound convert desires holiness for holiness' sake, 
and not merely for heaven's sake. He would not be 
satisfied with so much as might save him from hell, 
but desires the highest degree : yet desires are not 
enough. What is thy way and thy course? Is holi- 
ness thy pursuit, and religion thy business? If nol, 
thou art short of sound conversion. 

Application. — And is this that we have described, 
the conversion that is of absolute necessity to salva- 
tion ? Then be informed, That strait is the gate and 
narrow the way that leadeth unto life — that there are 
but few that find it — that there is need of a divine 
power savingly to convert a sinner to Jesus Christ. 

Again, Then be exhorted, O man, to turn in upon 
thine own self. What saith conscience ? Doth it not 
begin to bite ? Doth it not pierce thee as thou goest ? 
Is this thy judgment, and this thy choice, and this thy 
way, that we have described ? If so, then it is well. 
But doth not thy heart condemn thee, and tell thee 
there is such a sin thou livest in against thy conscience ? 
Doth it not tell thee there is such and such a secret 
way of wickedness that thou makest no account of? 
such or such a duty that thou makest no conscience of? 

Doth not conscience carry thee to thy closet, and 
tell thee how seldom prayer and reading are performed 
there * Doth it not carry thee to thy family, and show 
thee the charge of God, and the souls of thy children 
and servants, that are neglected there ? Doth not con- 
science lead thee to thy shop, thy trade, and tell thee 
4* 



42 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap, fit, 

of some iniquity there? Doth it not carry thee to the 
dram-shop, or the resort of idleness, and blame thee 
for the loose company thou keepest there, the precious 
time thou misspendest there, for the talents which 
thou wastest there, for thy gaming, and thy drinking? 
&c. Doth it not carry thee into thy secret chamber, 
and read there thy condemnation ? 

O conscience ! do thy duty : in the name of the liv- 
ing God, I command thee, discharge thine office ; lay 
hold upon this sinner, fall upon him, arrest him, ap- 
prehend him, undeceive him. What ! wilt thou flatter 
and sooth him while he lives in his sins? Awake, O 
conscience! what meanest thou, O sleeper? What! 
hast thou never a reproof in thy mouth ? What ! shali 
this soul die in his careless neglect of God and of eter- 
nity, and thou altogether hold thy peace? What ! shall 
he go on still in his trespasses, and yet have peace? 
Oh ! rouse up thyself, and do thy work. Now let the 
preacher in thy bosom speak : cry aloud, and spare 
not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet: let not the blood 
of his soul be required at thy hands. 



CHAPTER III. 

Of the Necessity of Conversion* 

It may be you are ready to say, What meaneth this 
stir ? and are apt to wonder why I follow you with such 
earnestness, slill ringing one lesson in your ears, that 
"you should repent, and be converted." But I must 
say to you, as Ruth to Naomi, " Entreat me not to leave 
lhee, or to return from following after thee." Were it 



Chap. III.] THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 43 

a matter of indifference — might you be saved as you 
are — I would gladly let you alone: but would you 
not have me solicitous for you, when I see you rea- 
dy to perish? As the Lord liveth, before whom I 
am, I have not the least hope to see one of your faces 
in heaven, except you be converted. I utterly despair 
of your salvation, except you will be prevailed with to 
turn thoroughly, and give up yourselves to God in ho- 
liness and newness of life. Hath God said, " Except 
a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of 
God ?" John, 3:3; and yet do you wonder why your 
ministers so earnestly labor for you? Think it not 
strange that I am earnest with you to follow after ho- 
liness, and long to see the image of God upon you. 
Never did any, nor shall any, enter into heaven by any 
other way but this. The conversion described is not 
a high attainment of some eminent Christians, but 
every soul that is saved passeth this change. 

It was a saying of the noble Roman, when he was 
hasting with corn to the city in the famine, and the 
mariners were loth to set sail in foul weather, It is ne- 
cessary for us to sail — it is not necessary for us to live. 
What is it that thou dost count necessary? Is thy 
bread necessary? Is thy breath necessary? Then thy 
conversion is much more necessary. Indeed, this is 
the one thing necessary. Thine estate is not necessary ; 
thou mayest sell all for the pearl of great price, and 
yet be a gainer by the purchase. Thy life is not ne- 
cessary ; thou mayest part with it for Christ, to infinite 
advantage. Thy reputation is not necessary; thou 
mayest be reproached for the name of Christ, and yet 
be happy ; yea, much more happy in reproach than in 
repute. But thy conversion is necessary; thy salva- 
tion depends upon it ; and is it not needful, in so im- 



44 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. II!. 

portant a case, to look about thee? On this one point 
depends thy making or marring to all eternity. 

But I shall more particularly show the necessity of 
conversion in five things ; for without this, 

I. Thy being is in vain. Is it not a pity thou shouldst 
be good for nothing, an unprofitable burden of the earth, 
a wart or wen in the body of the universe? Thus 
thou art, whilst unconverted ; for thou canst not an- 
swer the end of thy being. Is it not for the divine 
pleasure that thou art and wast created? Did not 
God make thee for himself? Art thou a man, and hast 
thou reason ? Then, bethink thyself why and whence 
thy being is. Behold God's workmanship in thy body, 
and ask thyself, to what end did God rear this fabric? 
Consider the noble faculties of thy heaven-born soul. 
To what end did God bestow these excellencies. To 
no other than that thou shouldst please thyself, and 
gratify thy senses ? Did God send men, like the swal- 
lows, into the world, only to gather a few sticks and 
dirt, and build their nests, and breed up their young, 
and then away ? The very heathens could see farther 
than this. Art thou so "fearfully and wonderfully 
made," and dost thou not yet think with thyself— sure- 
ly it was for some noble and exalted end ? 

O man! set thy reason a little to work. Is it not a 
pity such a goodly fabric should be raised in vain ? 
Verily thou art in vain, except thou art for God: bet- 
ter thou hadst no being, than not be for him. Wouldst 
thou serve thy end ? thou must repent and be convert- 
ed : without this, thou art to no purpose ; yea, to bad 
purpose. 

Thou art to no purpose. Man, unconverted, is like 



Chap. III. J THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 45 

a choice instrument that hath every string broken or 
out of tune. The Spirit of the living God must repair 
and tune it by the grace of regeneration, and sweetly 
move it by the power of actuating grace, or else thy 
prayers will be but howlings, and all thy services will 
make no music in the ears of the Most Holy. All thy 
powers and faculties are so corrupt in thy natural state, 
that, except thou be purged from dead works, thou canst 
not serve the living God. 

An unsanctified man cannot work the work of God. 
1. He hath no skill in it; he is altogether as unskilful 
in the work as in the word of righteousness. Theie 
are great mysteries in the practice as well as in the 
principles of godliness. Now the unregenerate know 
not "the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven." You 
may as well expect him that never learned the alpha- 
bet to read, or look for goodly music on the lute from 
one that never set his hand to an instrument, as that a 
natural man should do the Lord any pleasing service. 
He must first be taught of God, taught to pray, taught 
to profit, taught to go, or else he will be utterly at a 
loss. 2. He hath no strength for it. How weak is his 
heart! he is presently tired. The Sabbath, what a 
weariness is it! He is without strength, yea, dead in 
sin. 3. He hath no mind to it; he desires not the know- 
ledge of God's ways; he doth not know them, and he 
doth not care to know them ; he knows not, neither will 
he understand. 4. He hath neither due instruments 
nor materials for it. A man may as well hew the mar- 
ble without tools, or paint without colors or instruments, 
or build without materials, as perform any acceptable 
service, without the graces of the Spirit, which are 
both the materials and instruments in the work. Alms- 
giving is not a service of God, but of vain-glor}', if not 



46 TUB NECESSITY OF CONVERSION* [Chap. III. 

held forth by the hand of divine love. What is the 
prayer of the lips without grace in the heart, but the 
carcass without the life? What are all our confes- 
sions, unless they be exercises of godly sorrow and 
unfeigned repentance'? What our petitions, unless ani- 
mated with holy desires and faith in the divine attri- 
butes and promises? What our praises and thanks- 
givings, unless from the love of God, and a holy grati- 
tude and sense of God's mercies in the heart? So 
that a man may as well expect that trees should speak, 
or look for logic from the brutes, or motion from the 
dead, as to look for any service, holy and acceptable to 
God, from the unconverted. When the tree is evil, 
how can the fruit be good? 

Also, without conversion you live to bad purpose. 
The unconverted soul is a very cage of unclean birds, 
a sepulchre full of corruption and rottenness, a loath- 
some carcass full of worms, and sending forth a most 
noisome savor to God. O dreadful case! Dost thou 
not yet see a change to be needful ? Would it not have 
grieved one to have seen the golden consecrated ves- 
sels of God's temple turned into quaffing bowls of 
drunkenness, and polluted with tLe idol's service? Was 
it such an abomination to the Jews, when Antiochus 
set up the picture of a swine at the entrance of the 
temple? How much more abominable then would it 
have been to have had the very temple itself turned 
into a stable or a sty; and to have had the "holy of 
holies" served like the house of Baal, and have been 
turned into a draught-house ! This is the very case of 
the unregenerate : all thy members are turned into in- 
struments of unrighteousness, servants of Satan ; and 
thy inmost powers into a receptacle of uncleanness. 
You may see the guests within, by what comes out ; 



Chap. I1I.J THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 47 

for, " out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, 
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphe- 
mies," &c. This black troop discovers what a hell 
there is within. 

O abuse insufferable ! to see a heaven-born soul abased 
to the filthiest drudgery ! to see the glory of God's crea- 
tion, the chief of the works of God, the Lord of the 
universe, lapping with a prodigal at the trough ! Was 
it such a lamentation to see those that did feed delicately 
sit desolate in the streets ; and the precious sons of 
Zion, comparable to line gold, esteemed as earthen 
pitchers ; and those that were clothed in scarlet em- 
brace dunghills ? And is it not much more fearful to 
see the only thing that hath immortality in this lower 
world, and carries the stamp of God, become as a ves- 
sel wherein is no pleasure, and be put to the most sor- 
did use? O indignity intolerable! Better thou wert 
dashed in a thousand pieces, than continue to be abased 
to so vile a service. 

II, Not only man, but the whole visible creation, is 
in vain without this. God hath made all the visible 
creatures in heaven and earth for the service of man, 
and man only is the spokesman for all the rest. Man 
is, in the universe, like the tongue to the body, which 
speaks for all the members. The other creatures can- 
not praise their Maker, but by dumb signs and hints 
to man that he should speak for them. Man is, as it 
were, the high-priest of God's creation, to offer the sa- 
crifice of praise for all his fellow creatures. The Lord 
God expecteth a tribute of praise from all his works. 
Now, ail the rest do bring in their tribute to man, and 
pay it by his hand. So then, if a man be false, and 
faithless, and selfish, God is wronged of all, and hag 
no active glory from his works. 



48 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. Ill 

O dreadful thought to think of ! that God should 
build such a world as this, and lay out such infinite 
power, and wisdom, and goodness thereupon, and all 
in vain ; and that man should be guilty, at last, of rob- 
bing and spoiling him of the glory of all ! O think of 
this. While thou art unconverted, all the offices of the 
creatures are in vain to thee : thy meat nourishes thee 
in vain ; the sun holds forth his light to thee in vain, 
the stars that serve thee in their courses by their pow- 
erful, though hidden influence, do it in vain ; thy 
clothes warm thee in vain ; thy beast carries thee in 
vain; in a word, the unwearied labors of the whole 
creation (as to thee) are in vain. The service of all 
the creatures that drudge for thee, and yield forth their 
strength unto thee, that therewith thou shouldest serve 
their Maker, is all but lost labor. Hence the whole 
creation groaneth under the abuse of men unsanctified, 
who pervert all things to the service of their lusts, 
quite contrary to the very end of their being. 

III. Without this, thy religion is vain ; all thy re- 
ligious performances will be but lost; for they can 
neither please God nor save thy soul, which are the 
very ends of religion. Be thy services ever so spe- 
cious, yet God hath no pleasure in them. Is not that 
man's case dreadful whose sacrifices are as murders, 
and whose prayers are a breath of abomination ? Many, 
under convictions, think they will set upon mending, 
and that a lew prayers and alms will cover all again ; 
but alas, sirs! while your hearts remain unsanctified 
your duties will not pass. How punctual was Jehu ! 
and yet all was rejected because his heart was not up- 
right. How blameless was Paul ! and yet, being un- 
converted, all was but loss. Men think they do much 



Chap. III. J THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 49 

in attending God's service, and are ready to charge 
him with it, and set him down so much their debtor ; 
whereas their persons being unsanctifted, their duties 
cannot be accepted. 

O soul ! do not think, when thy sins pursue thee, 
that a little praying and reforming thy course will pa- 
cify God. Thou must begin with thine heart. If that 
be not renewed, thou canst no more please God than 
one who, having unspeakably offended thee, should 
bring thee the most loathsome thing to pacify thee ; 
or having fallen into the mire, should think with his 
filthy embraces to reconcile thee. 

It is a great misery to labor in the fire. The poets 
could not invent a worse hell for Sisyphus than to be 
ever toiling to get the barrel up the hill, and then that 
it should presently roll down again and renew his la- 
bor. God threatens it as the greatest of temporal judg- 
ments, that they should build and not inhabit, plant 
and not gather, and that their labors should be eaten 
up by strangers. Is it so great a misery to lose our 
common labors, to sow in vain, and to build in vain? 
how much more to lose our pains in religion — to pray, 
and hear, and fast in vain ! This is an undoing and 
eternal loss. Be not deceived; if thou goest on in thy 
sinful state, though thou shouldst spread forth thy 
hands, God will hide his eyes; though thou make many 
prayers, he will not hear. If a man without skill set 
about our work, and spoil it in the doing, though he 
take much pains, we give him but small thanks. God 
will be worshipped after the due order. If a servant 
do our work, but quite contrary to our order, he shall 
have rather stripes than praise. God's work must be 
done according to God's mind, or he will not be pleased: 
and this cannot be, except it be done with a holy heart. 

pz Alarm. 



60 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. fCbap. III. 

IV. Without this, thy hopes are in vain. " The Lord 
hath rejected thy confidences." 

1. The hope of comfort here is in vain. It is not 
only necessary to the safety, but comfort, of your con- 
dition, that you be converted. Without this, you " shall 
not know peace." Without the " fear of God " you 
cannot have the " comfort of the Holy Ghost." God 
speaks peace only to his people and to his saints. If 
you have a false peace, continuing in your sins, it is 
not of God's speaking, and then you may guess the 
author. Sin is a real sickness, yea, the worst of sick- 
ness ; it is a leprosy in the head, the plague of the heart ; 
it is rottenness in the bones; it pierceth, it woundeth, it 
racketh, it tormenteth. A man may as well expect 
ease when his distempers are in their full strength, or 
his bones out of joint, as true comfort while in his sins. 

O wretched man, that canst have no ease in this 
case but what comes from the deadliness of the dis- 
ease ! You shall hear the poor sick man saying, in 
his wildness, he is well, when you see death in his 
face ; he would be up and about his business, when the 
very next step is likely to be to his grave. The un- 
sanctified often see nothing amiss ; they think them- 
selves whole, and cry not for the physician ; but this 
only shows the danger of their case. 

Sin doth naturally breed distempers and disturbances 
in the soul. What a continual tempest is there in a dis- 
contented mind ! what a corroding evil is inordinate 
care ! what is passion but a very fever in the mind ? 
what is lust but a fire in the bones ? what is pride but 
a deadly dropsy? or covetousness, but an insatiable 
and insufferable thirst? or malice and envy, but venom 
in the very heart? Spiritual sloth is but a scurvy in 



Chap. III. J THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 51 

the mind, and carnal security a mortal lethargy ; and 
how can that soul have true comfort which is under 
so many diseases? But converting grace cures, and 
so eases the mind, and prepares the soul for a settled, 
standing, immortal peace. " Great peace have they 
that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them." 
They are the ways of wisdom that afford pleasure and 
peace. David had infinitely more pleasure in the word 
than in all the delights of his court. The conscience 
cannot be truly pacified till soundly purified. Cursed 
is that peace which is maintained in a way of sin. 
Two sorts of peace are more to be dreaded than all the 
troubles in the world; peace with sin, and peace in sin. 
2. Thy hopes of salvation hereafter are in vain; yea, 
worse than in vain; they are most injurious to God, 
most pernicious to thyself. There is death, despera- 
tion and blasphemy in this hope. 1. There is death 
in it. Thy confidence shall be rooted out of thy taber- 
nacles, (God will up with it root and branch ;) it shall 
bring thee to the king of terrors. Though thou mayest 
lean upon this house, it will not stand, but will prove 
like a ruinous building, which, when a man trusts to 
it, falls down about him. 2. There is desperation in it : 
" Where is the hope of the hypocrite when God takes 
away his soul V\ Then there is an end for ever of his 
hope. Indeed, the hope of the righteous hath an end ; 
but it is not a destructive, but a perfective end ; his 
hope ends in fruition, others in frustration. The godly 
may say at death, " It is finished;" but the wicked, " It 
is perished," and in too sad earnest bemoan himself, as 
Job, in a mistake, " Where is now my hope ? He hath 
destroyed me; I am gone, and my hope is removed 
like a tree." " The righteous hath hope in his death." 
When nature is dying, his hopes are living ; when his 



52 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. 111. 

body is languishing, his hopes are flourishing; his hope 
is a living hope, but others' a dying, a damning, soul- 
undoing hope : " When a wicked man dieth, his expec- 
tation shall perish ; and the hope of unjust men pe- 
risheth." It shall be cut off and prove like a " spider's 
web," which he spins out of his own bowels ; but then 
comes death and destroys all, and so there is an eter- 
nal end of his confidence wherein he trusted ; for " the 
eyes of the wicked shall fail, and their hope shall be as 
the giving up of the ghost." 

Wicked men are fixed in their carnal hope, and will 
not be beaten out of it; they hold it fast ; they will not 
let it go : yea, but death will knock off their fingers. 
Though we cannot undeceive them, death and judg- 
ment will. When death strikes his dart through thy 
liver, it will ruin thy soul and thy hopes together. 
The unsanctified have hope only in this life, and there- 
fore are "of all men most miserable." When death' 
comes, it lets them out into the amazing gulf of end- 
less desperation. 3. There is blasphemy in it. To 
hope we shall be saved, though continuing unconvert- 
ed, is to hope that we shall prove God a liar. He hath 
told you, that so merciful and pitiful as he is, he will 
never save you notwithstanding, if you go on in igno- 
rance, or a course of unrighteousness. In a w r ord, he 
has told you that, whatever you be or do, nothing shall 
avail you to salvation unless you become new crea- 
tures. Now, to say God is merciful, and we hope that 
he will save us, is in effect to say, " We hope that God 
will not do as he says." We must not set God's attri- 
butes at variance; God has resolved to glorify his 
mercy, but not to the prejudice of his truth, as the pre- 
sumptuous sinner will find to his everlasting sorrow. 

Object. But we hope in Jesus Christ; we put our 



Chap. III. J THE NECES3ITY OF CONVERSION. 53 

whole trust in God ; and therefore doubt not but we 
shall be saved. 

Ans. 1. This is not to hope in Christ, but against 
Christ. To hope to see the kingdom of God without 
being born again : to hope to find eternal life in the 
broad way, is to hope Christ will prove a false prophet. 
David's plea is, " I hope in thy word." But this hope 
is against God's word. Show me a word of Christ for 
thy hope that he will save thee in thine ignorance or 
profane neglect of his service, and I will never try to 
shake thy confidence. 

2. God doth with abhorrence reject this hope. Those 
condemned in the prophet, went on in their sins, yet 
(saith the text) they will lean upon the Lord. Micah, 
3:11. God will not endure to be made a prop to men 
in their sins. The Lord rejected those presumptuous 
sinners that went on still in their trespasses and yet 
would stay themselves upon Israel's God, as a man 
would shake off the briers that cleave to his garment. 

3. If thy hope be any thing worth, it will purify thee 
from thy sins ; but cursed is that hope which cherishes 
men in their sins. 

Object. Would you have us to despair 7 
Ans. You must despair of ever coming to heaven 
as you are, that is, while you remain unconverted. 
You must despair of ever seeing the face of God with- 
out holiness ; but you must by no means despair of 
finding mercy upon your thorough repentance and con- 
version; neither may you despair of attaining to re- 
pentance and conversion, if you set about the work 
immediately. 

V. Without this, all that Christ hath done and suf- 
fered will be (as to you) in vain j that is, it will no 
5* 



54 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. Ill 

way avail you to salvation. Many urge this as a sunt 
cient ground for their hopes, that Christ died for sin- 
ners ; but I must tell you, Christ never died to save 
impenitent and unconverted sinners, (so continuing.) 
A great divine was wont, in his private dealings with 
souls, to ask two questions : 1. What hath Christ done 
for you? 2. What hath Christ wrought in you? With- 
out the application of the Spirit in regeneration, we 
can have no saving interest in the benefits of redemp- 
tion. 

I tell you from the Lord, that Christ himself cannot 
save you if you go on in this state. 

First. It were against his trust. The Mediator is 
the servant of the Father, shows his commission from 
him, acts in his name, and pleads his command for his 
justification ; and God has committed all things to him, 
entrusted his own glory and the salvation of the elect 
with him. Accordingly Christ gives his Father an ac- 
count of both parts of his trust before he leaves the 
world. Now Christ would quite cross his Father's glo- 
ry and his greatest trust, if he should save men in their 
sins ; for this were to overturn all his counsels, and to 
offer violence to all his attributes. 

1. To overturn all his counsels; of which this is the 
order, that men should be brought through sanctifica- 
tion to salvation. He hath chosen them, that they 
should be holy. They are elected to pardon and life 
through sanctification. If thou canst repeal the law 
of God's immutable counsel, or corrupt him whom the 
Father hath sealed, to go directly against his commis- 
sion, then, and not otherwise, mayst thou get to hea- 
ven in this condition. To hope that Christ will save 
thee while unconverted, is to hope that Christ will fal- 
sify his trust He never did, nor ever will save one 



Chap. III.] THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 55 

soul but whom the Father hath given him in election, 
end drawn to him in effectual calling. Be assured, 
Christ will save none in a way contrary to his Fa- 
ther's will. 

2. To offer violence to all his attributes. 

(1.) To his justice; for the righteousness of God's 
judgment lie3 in rendering to all according to their 
works. Now, should men sow to the flesh, and yet of 
the Spirit reap everlasting life, where were the glory 
of divine justice, since it should be given to the wicked 
according to the work of the righteous ? 

(2.) To his holiness. If God should not only save 
sinners, but save them in their sins, his most pure and 
strict holiness would be exceedingly defaced. Theun- 
sanctified are, in the eyes of God's holiness, exceed- 
ingly vile and hateful. It would be offering the ex- 
tremest violence to the infinite purity of the divine na- 
ture to have such to dwell with him. tt They cannot 
stand in his judgment: they cannot abide his presence." 
If holy David would not endure such in his house, no, 
nor in his sight, can we think God will? Should he 
take men as they are, from the mire of their filthiness 
to the glory of heaven, the world would think that 
God was at nc such great distance from sin, nor had 
any such dislike to it as we are told he hath; they 
would be ready to conclude that God was altogether 
such a one as themselves, as some of old wickedly did, 
from the very forbearance of God. 

(3.) To his veracity. For God hath declared from 
heaven, that u if any shall say he shall have peace, 
though he should go on in the imagination of his heart, 
his wrath shall smoke against that man." That " they 
(only) that confess and forsake their sins shall find 
mercy." That " they that shall enter into his hill must 



56 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. III. 

be of clean hands and a pure heart." Where were 
God's truth, if, notwithstanding all this, he should bring 
men to salvation without conversion? O desperate 
sinner, that darest to hope that Christ will put the lie 
upon his Father, and nullify his word to save thee ! 

(4.) To his wisdom. For this were to throw away 
the choicest of mercies on them that would not value 
them, nor were any way suited to them. 

They would not value them. The unsanctified sin- 
ner puts but little price upon God's great salvation. 
He sets no more by Christ than the whole by the phy- 
sician. He prizes not his balm, values not his cure, 
but tramples upon his blood. Now, would it stand 
with wisdom to force pardon and life upon those that 
would return no thanks ? Will the all-wise God (when 
he hath forbidden us to do it) throw his holy things to 
dogs, and his pearls to swine, that would, as it were f 
but turn again and rend him ? This would make mer 
cy to be despised indeed. Wisdom requires that liffl 
be given in a way suitable to God's honor, and that 
God provide for the securing of his own glory as weU 
as man's felicity. It would be dishonorable to God to 
bestow his choicest riches on them that have more 
pleasure in their lusts than in heavenly delights. God 
would lose the praise and glory of his grace, if he 
should cast it away upon them that were not only un- 
worthy, but unwilling. 

Also, the mercies of God are no way suited to the 
unconverted. The divine wisdom is seen in suiting 
things to each other, the means to the end, the object 
to the faculty, the quality of the gift to the capacity of 
the receiver. Now, if Christ should bring the unre* 
generate sinner to heaven, he could take no more feli- 
city there than a beast if you should bring him into a 



Chap. III. J THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 57 

beautiful room, to the society of learned men ; where- 
as the poor thing had much rather be grazing with his 
fellow-brutes. Alas! what could an unsanctified crea- 
ture do in heaven? he could not be contented there, 
because nothing suits him. The place doth not suit him ; 
he would be quite out of his element, a fish out of water 
The company doth not suit him: what communion 
hath darkness with light? corruption with perfection? 
filth and rottenness with glory and immortality ? The 
employment doth not suit him ; the anthems of heaven 
fit not his mouth, suit not his ear. Canst thou charm 
thy beast with music? or wilt thou bring him to thy 
organ and expect that he should make thee melody, 
or keep time with the tuneful choir? or, had he skill, 
he would have no will, and so could find no pleasure 
in it. Spread thy table with delicacies before a lan- 
guishing patient, and it will be a very great offence. 
Alas! if the poor man say of a Sabbath-day, "What a 
weariness is it !" how miserable would he think it to 
be engaged in an everlasting Sabbath? 

5. To his immutability, or else to his omniscience or 
omnipotence; for this is enacted in the conclave of 
heaven, and enrolled in the decrees of the court above, 
that none but the "pure in heart shall ever see God;" 
this is laid up with him, and sealed among his trea- 
sures. Now, if Christ yet bring any to heaven uncon- 
verted, either he must get them in without his Fathers 
knowledge, and then where is his omniscience? or 
against his will, and then where were his omnipotence? 
or he must change his will, and then where were his 
immutability ? 

Sinner, wilt thou not give up thy vain hope of being 
saved in this condition? Saith Bildad, "Shall the 
earth be forsaken for thee ? or the rocks be moved out 



59 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. nL 

of their place ?" May I not much more reason so with 
thee ? Shall the laws of heaven be reversed for thee ? 
Shall the everlasting foundations be overturned for 
thee? Shall Christ put out the eye of his Father's 
omniscience, or shorten the arm of his eternal power 
for thee? Shall divine justice be violated for thee? or 
the brightness of his holiness be blemished for thee ? 
O the impossibility, absurdity, blasphemy, that are in 
such a confidence ! To think Christ will ever save 
thee in this condition, is to make the Savior become a 
sinner, and do more wrong to infinite Majesty than all 
the wicked on earth or devils in hell ever did, or ever 
could do ; and yet wilt thou not give up such a blas- 
phemous hope? 

Second. Against his word. 

We need not say, " Who shall ascend into heaven, 
to bring down Christ from above? Or, who shall de- 
scend into the deep, to bring up Christ from beneath ? 
The word is nigh us." Are you agreed that Christ 
shall end the controversy ? Hear then his own w T ords 
"Except ye be converted, ye shall in no wise enter in- 
to the kingdom of heaven." " You must be born again." 
"If I wash thee not, thou hast no part in me. 5 ' "Re- 
pent or perish." One word, one would think, were 
enough from Christ ; but how often and earnestly doth 
he reiterate it ! "Verily, verily, except a man be born 
again, he shall not see the kingdom of God." Yea, he 
doth not only assert but prove the necessity of the 
new birth, namely, from the fleshliness and sinfulness 
of man from his first birth, by reason of which man is 
no more fit for heaven than the beast is for the chamber 
of the king's presence. And wilt thou yet believe thy 
own presumptuous confidence, directly against Christ's 
words ? He must go quite against the law of his king- 
dom, rule of his judgment, to save thee in this state. 



Chap. III.] THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 59 

Third. Against his oath. 

He hath lifted up his hand to heaven, he hath sworn 
that those who remain in unbelief and know not his 
ways (that is, are ignorant of them, or disobedient to 
them,) shall not enter into his rest. And wilt thou 
not ) r et believe, O sinner, that he is in earnest? Canst 
thou hope he will be forsworn for thee ? The covenant 
of grace is confirmed by an oath and sealed by blood; 
but all must be made void, and another way to heaven 
found out, if thou be saved, living and dying unsancti- 
fied. God is come to his last terms with man, and has 
condescended as far as in honor he could. Men can- 
not be saved while unconverted, except they could get 
another covenant made, and the whole frame of the 
Gospel (which was established for ever with such dread- 
ful solemnities) quite altered. And must not they be 
distracted, to hope that they shall? 

Fourth. Against his honor. 

God will so show his love to the sinner, as withal to 
show his hatred to sin ; therefore "he that names the 
name of Jesus must depart from iniquity and deny all 
ungodliness; and he that hath hope of life by Christ 
must "purify himself as he is pure," otherwise Christ 
would be thought a favorer of sin. The Lord Jesus 
would have all the world to know, that though he par- 
dons sin, he will not protect it. If holy David say, 
"Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity," Psa. 
6 : 8, and shut the doors against them, Psa. 101 : 7, shall 
not such more expect it from Christ's holiness ? 

Fifth. Against his offices. 

"God hath exalted him to be a Prince and a Savior." 
He would act against both, should he save men in their 
sins. It is the office of a king to be "a terror to evil 
doers, and a praise to them that do well." "He is a 



60 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. Ill 

minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath on him 
that doth evil." Now, should Christ favor the ungodly, 
(so continuing,) and take those to reign with him that 
would not that he should reign over them, this would 
be quite against his office ; he therefore reigns that he 
may "put his enemies under his feet." Now, should 
he lay them in his bosom, he would cross the end of 
his regal power ; it belongs to Christ, as a King, to sub- 
due the hearts and slay the lusts of his chosen. What 
king would take rebels in open hostility into his court ? 
What were this but to betray life, kingdom, govern- 
ment, and all together 1 If Christ be a King, he must 
have honor, homage, subjection. Now, to save men 
while in their natural enmity, were to obscure his dig- 
nity, lose his authority, bring contempt on his govern- 
ment, and sell his dear-bought rights for naught. 

Again, as Christ would not be a Prince, so neither a 
Savior, if he should do this : for his salvation is spiri- 
tual. He is called Jesus, because he saves his people 
from their sins. Matt. 1 : 21. So that, should he save 
them in their sins, he would be neither Lord nor Jesus. 
To save men from the punishment, and not from the 
power of sin, were to do his work by halves, and be an 
imperfect Savior. His office as the Deliverer, is " to 
turn away ungodliness from Jacob." " He is sent to 
bless men, in turning them from their iniquities," " To 
make an end of sin." So that he would destroy his 
own designs, and nullify his offices, to save men abid- 
ing in their unconverted state. 

Application. — Arise then ! What meanest thou, O 
sleeper? Awake, O secure sinner! lest thou be con- 
sumed in thine iniquities : say, as the lepers, " If we 
sit here, we shall die." Verily, it is not more certain 
that thou art now out of hell, than that thou shait 



Chap. III. J THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION 6l 

speedily be in it, except thou repent and be converted : 
there is but this one door for thee to escape by. Arise 
then, O sluggard, and shake off thine excuses : how 
long wilt thou slumber, and fold thy hands to sleep ? 
Wilt thou lie down in the midst of the sea, or sleep on 
the top of a mast ? There is no remedy, but thou must 
either turn or burn. There is an unchangeable neces- 
sity of the change of thy condition, except thou hast 
resolved to abide the worst of it. and try it out with the 
Almighty. If thou lovest thy life, O man, arise and 
come away. Methinks I see the Lord Jesus laying 
the merciful hands of a holy violence upon thee ; me- 
Ihinks he acts like the angels to Lot : " Then the an- 
gels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, lest thou be consumed. 
And, while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his 
hand, the Lord being merciful unto him; and they 
brought him without the city, and said, Escape for thy 
life, stay not in all the plain ; escape to the mountains, 
lest thou be consumed." 

O how wilful will thy destruction be if thou 
shouldst yet harden thyself in thy sinful state ! But 
none of you can say that you have not had fair warn- 
ing. Yet methinks I cannot tell how to leave you so. 
It is not enough for me to have delivered my own souk 
What! shall I go away without my errand? Will 
none of you arise and follow me ? Have I been all this 
while speaking to the wind ? have I been charming 
the deaf adder, or allaying the restless ocean with ar- 
gument? Do I speak to the trees or rocks, or to men ? 
to the tombs or monuments of the dead, or to a living 
auditory? If you be men, and not senseless stocks, 
stand still and consider whither you are going; if you 
have the reason and understanding of men, dare not to 
run into the flames^ and fall into hell with your pyes 

„ Aiitriu. 



62 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. IIL 

open ; but bethink yourselves, and set to the work of 
repentance. What! men, and yet run into the pit, 
when the very beasts will not be forced in ! What ! en- 
dowed with reason, and yet trifle with death and hell, 
and the vengeance of the Almighty ! Are men herein 
only distinguished from very brutes, that these, having 
no foresight, have no care to provide for the things to 
come; and will yon, who are warned, not hasten your 
escape from eternal torments? O show yourselves 
men, and let reason prevail with you. 

Is it a reasonable thing for you to contend against 
the Lord your Maker? or "to harden yourselves 
against his word," Job, 9 : 4, as though the Strength 
of Israel would lie ? Is it reasonable that an under- 
standing creature should lose, yea, live quite against, 
the very end of his being, and be as a broken pitcher, 
only fit for the dunghill ? Is it reasonable that the only 
thing in this world that God hath made capable of 
knowing his will and bringing him glory, should yet 
live in ignorance of his Maker, and be unserviceable to 
his use, yea, should be engaged against him, and resist 
his Creator? "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, earth," 
and let the creatures without sense judge if this be rea- 
son, that man, whom God hath " nourished and brought 
up, should rebel against him?" Judge in your own 
selves. Is it a reasonable undertaking for briers and 
thorns to set themselves in battle against the devouring 
fire? or for the potsherd of the earth to strive with its 
Maker ? You will say, " This is not reason ;" or sure- 
ly the eye of reason is quite put out. And, if this be 
not reason, then there is no reason that you should 
continue as you are, but there is all the reason in the 
world that you should forthwith turn and repent. 

What shall I say ? I could spend myself in this ar- 



Chap. I V.J THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. 63 

gument. O that you would but hearken to me ! that 
you would now set upon a new course ! Will you not 
be made clean ? When shall it once be ? Wilt thou 
sit down and consider the forementioned argument, 
and debate it, whether it be not best to turn 1 Come, 
and let us reason together ; is it good for thee to be 
here ? Wilt thou sit till the tide come in upon thee ? 
[s it good for thee to try whether God will be as good as 
his word, and to harden thyself in a conceit that all is 
well with thee while thou remainest unsanctified ? 

Alas ! for such sinners; must they perish at last by 
hundreds? What course shall I use with them that 
I have not tried? " What shall I do for the daughter 
of my people?" Lord God, help. Alas! shall I 
leave them thus? If they will not hear me, yet do 
thou hear me. O that they may yet live in thy sight ! 
Lord, save them, or else they perish. My heart would 
melt 'to see their houses on fire about their ears when 
they were fast asleep in their beds ; and shall not my 
soul be moved within me to see them falling into end- 
less perdition ? Lord, have compassion, and save them 
out of the burning : put forth thy divine power, and 
the work will be done ; but, as for me, I cannot prevail. 



CHAPTEH IV. 

Showing' the Marks of the Unconverted. 

While we keep aloof in generals there is little fruit 
to be expected ; it is the hand-fight that does execution, 
David is not awakened by the prophet's hovering at a 
distance in parabolical insinuations ; he is forced to 
close with him, and tell him plainly, " Thou art the 



64 THE MARKS OP THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. IV 

man." Few will, in words, deny the necessity of the 
new birth ; but they have a self-deluding confidence 
that the work is not now to do. And because they 
know themselves free from that gross hypocrisy which 
takes up religion merely for a color to deceive others 
and for covering wicked designs, they are confident of 
their sincerity, and suspect not that more close hypo- 
crisy (wherein the greatest danger lies) by which a 
man deceiveth his own soul. But man's deceitful 
heart is such a matchless cheat, and self-delusion so 
reigning and so fatal a disease, that I know not whe- 
ther be the greater, the difficulty or the necessity of 
the undeceiving work that I am now upon. Alas for 
the unconverted ! they must be undeceived, or they 
will be undone. But how shall this be effected? 

Help, O all-searching Light, and let thy discerning 
eye discover the rotten foundation of the self-deceiver ; 
and lead me, O Lord God, as thou didst the prophet, 
into the chambers of imagery, and dig through the wall 
of sinners' hearts, and discover the hidden abomina- 
tions that are lurking out of sight in the dark. O send 
thy angel before me to open the sundry wards of their 
hearts, as thou didst before Peter, and make even the 
iron gates to fly open of their own accord. And as 
Jonathan no sooner tasted the honey but his eyes were 
enlightened, so grant, O Lord, that when the poor de- 
ceived souls with whom I have to do shall cast their 
eyes upon these lines, their minds may be illuminated, 
and their consciences convinced and awakened, that 
they may see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, 
and be converted, and thou mayest heal them. 

This must be premised before we proceed to the dis- 
covery, that it is most certain men may have a confi- 
dent persuasion that their hearts and states are good, 



Chap. IV. J THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. 65 

and yet be unsound. Hear the Truth himself, who 
shows, in Laodicea's case, that men may be wretched, 
and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, and yet 
not know it : yea, they may be confident they are rich, 
and increased in grace. Rev. 3 : 17. " There is a gene- 
ration that are pure in their own eyes, and yet not 
washed from their filthiness." Prov. 30 : 12. Who bet- 
ter persuaded of his state than Paul, while he yet re- 
mained unconverted ? Rom. 7:9. So that they are mi- 
serably deceived who take a strong confidence for a 
sufficient evidence. They that have no better proof 
than barely a strong persuasion that they are convert- 
ed, are certainly as yet strangers to conversion. 

But to come more close. As it was said to the adhe- 
rents of Antichrist, so here ; some of the unconverted 
carry their marks in their forehead more openly, and 
some in their hands more covertly. The apostle reckons 
up some upon whom he writes the sentence of death; 
as in these dreadful catalogues, which I beseech you to 
attend to with all diligence. " For this ye know, that 
no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor coveteus 
man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the 
kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive 
you with vain words ; for because of these things Com- 
eth the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience." 
" But the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and 
murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and ido- 
laters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake 
that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second 
death." " Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not 
inherit the kingdom of God ? Be not deceived ; neither 
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, 
nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, 
nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extor- 
6* 



66 THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. [ Chap. IV. 

tioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." Wo to 
them that have their name written in this catalogue * 
Such may know, as certainly as if God had told them 
from heaven, that they are unsanctiiied, and under an 
impossibility of being saved in this condition. 

There are then these several sorts that, past all dis- 
pute, are unconverted ; they carry their marks in their 
foreheads. 

1. The unclean. These are ever reckoned among 
the goats, and have their names (whoever is left out) 
m all the forementioned catalogues. 

2. The covetous. These are ever branded for idola- 
ters, and the doors of the kingdom are shut against 
them by name. 

3. Drunkards. Not only such as drink away their 
reason, but withal (yea, above all) such as are tco 
strong for strong drink. The Lord fills his mouth 
with woes against these, and declares them to have no 
inheritance in the kingdom of God. 

4. Liars. The God that cannot lie has told them 
that there is no place for them in his kingdom, no en- 
trance into his hill ; but their portion is with the father 
of lies, whose children they are, in the lake of burnings. 

5. Swearers. The end of these, without deep and 
speedy repentance, is swift destruction, and most cer- 
tain and unavoidable condemnation. 

6. Railers and backbiters, that love to take up a re- 
proach against their neighbor, and fling all the dirt 
they can in his face, or else w r ound him secretly be- 
hind his back. 

7. Thieves, extortioners, oppressors, that grind the 
poor, or over-reach their brethren when they have 
them at an advantage : these must know that God " is 



Chap. IV.] THE MARKS OP THE UNCONVERTED. 67 

the avenger of all such." Hear, ye false and pur- 
loining and wasteful servants ! hear, O ye deceitful 
tradesmen, hear your sentence! God will certainly 
hold his door against you, and turn your treasures of 
unrighteousness into the treasures of wrath, and make 
your ill-gotten silver and gold to torment you, like 
burning metal in your bowels. 

8. All that do ordinarily live in the profane neglect 
of God's worship, that hear not his word, that call not 
on his name, that restrain prayer before God, that mind 
not their own nor their families' souls, but " live with- 
out God in the world." 

9. Those that are frequenters and lovers of vain 
company. God hath declared, he will be the destroyer 
of all such, and that they shall never enter into the 
hill of his rest. 

10. Scoffers at religion, that make a scorn of precise 
walking, and mock at the messengers and diligent ser- 
vants of the Lord, and at their holy profession, and 
make themselves merry with the weakness and fail- 
ings of professors : " Hear, ye despisers," hear your 
dreadful doom ! 

Sinner, consider diligently whether thou art not to 
be found in one of these ranks ; for if this be thy case, 
thou art in the " gall of bitterness and bond of iniqui- 
ty;" for all these do carry their marks in their fore- 
heads, and are undoubtedly the sons of death. And if 
so, the Lord pity our poor congregations ! O how small 
a number will remain, when these ten sorts are left 
out ! May God show you your danger, and constrain 
you to cry, " Lord, have mercy upon us !" 

Sirs, what shift do you make to keep up your con- 
fidence of your good state, when God from heaven de- 



68 THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Cbap. IV 

clares against you, and pronounces you m a state o! 
damnation? I would reason with you as God with 
them, M How canst thou say, I am not polluted '? See 
thy way in the valley; know what thou hast done." 
Man, is not thy conscience privy to thy tricks of de- 
ceitj to thy secret sins, to thy way of lying ? Yea, are 
not thy friends, thy family, thy neighbors, witnesses 
to thy profane neglect of God's worship, to thy cove- 
tous practices, to thy envious and malicious carriage % 
May they not point at thee as thou goest — There goes 
a gaming prodigal ; there goes a drunken Nabal. a com- 
panion of evil-doers ; there goes a railer, or a scoffer, 
or a loose liver ? Beloved, God hath written it as with 
a sunbeam, in the book by which you must be judged, 
that these are not the spots of his children, and that 
none such (except renewed by converting grace) shall 
ever escape the damnation of hell. 

O that such as you would now be persuaded to " re- 
pent and turn from all your transgressions, or else ini- 
quity will be your ruin !" Alas ! for poor hardened 
sinners ! However, you must know that you have been 
warned, and that I am clear of your blood ; and whe- 
ther men will hear, or whether they will forbear, I will 
leave these Scriptures with them, which will prove 
either as thunder-bolts to awaken them, or as searing- 
irons to harden them. " God shall wound the head of 
his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as 
goeth on still in his trespasses." " He that, being often 
reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be de- 
stroyed, and that without remedy." " Because I have 
called, and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand, 
and no man regarded, &c. I will laugh at your calami- 
ty — when your destruction cometh as a whirlwind !" 

And now I imagine many will begin to bless them- 



Chap. IV.] THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. 69 

selves, and think all is well, because they are not spot- 
ted with these grosser evils ; but I must tell you that 
there is another sort of unsanctifled persons, that carry 
not their marks in their foreheads, but more secretly 
and covertly ! These do frequently deceive themselves 
and others, and pass for good Christians, when they 
are all the while unsound at the foundation. Many 
pass undiscovered, till death and judgment bring all to 
light. Those self-deceivers seem to come even to hea- 
ven's gate with confidence of their admission, and yet 
are turned off at last. I beseech you deeply to lay to 
heart and firmly retain this awakening consideration, 
" that multitudes miscarry by the hand of some secret 
sin, that is not only hidden from others, but for want 
of observing their own hearts, even from themselves." 
A man may be free from open pollutions, and yet die 
at last by the fatal hand of some unobserved iniquity ; 
and there are these twelve hidden sins, through which 
souls go down by numbers into the chambers of eter- 
nal death : these you must search carefully for, and 
take them as black marks (wherever they be found) 
discovering a graceless and unconverted state ; and as 
you love your lives, read carefully, with a holy j ea- 
lousy of yourselves, lest you should be the persons 
concerned. 

1. Gross willful ignorance. O how many poor souls 
doth this sin kill in the dark ! Hos. 4 : 6, while they 
think verily they have good hearts, and are in the rea- 
dy way to heaven ! This is the murderer that despatch- 
ed thousands in a silent manner, when (poor hearts !) 
they suspect nothing, and see not the hand that de- 
stroys them. You shall find, whatever excuses you 
make for ignorance, that it is a soul-ruining evil. Isa. 



70 THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. [.Chap. IV 

27:11. 2Thess. 1:8. 2 Cor. 4:3. Ah ! would it not 
nave grieved a man's heart to have seen that woful 
spectacle, when the poor Protestants were shut up, (a 
multitude together in a barn,) and a butcher came, 
with his inhuman hands warmed in human blood, and 
led them one by one (blindfold) to a block, where he 
slew them, one after another, by scores, in cold blood? 
But how much more should your hearts bleed to think 
of the hundreds, in great congregations, that ignorance 
doth destroy in secret, and lead blindfold to the block! 
Beware that this be not your case. Make no plea for 
ignorance ; if you spare that sin, know that it will not 
spare you ; and would a man keep a murderer in his 
bosom ? 

2. Secret reserves in closing with Christ. To for- 
sake all for Christ, to hate father and mother, yea, a 
man's own life for him: Luke, 14: 26. — "This is a hard 
saying." Some will do much, but they will not have 
the religion that w r ill save them ; they never come to 
be entirely devoted to Christ, nor fully to resign to him, 
they must have the sweet sin; they mean to do them- 
selves no harm ; they have secret exceptions for life, 
liberty, or estate. Many take Christ thus, and never 
consider his self-denying terms, nor count the cost, 
and this error in the foundation mars all, and secretly 
ruins them for ever. 

3. Formality in religion. Many rest in the outside 
of religion, and in the external performance of holy 
duties. And this oftentimes doth most effectually de- 
ceive men, and more certainly undo them than open 
profaneness ; as it w r as in the Pharisee's case. They 
hear, they fast, they pray, they give alms, and there- 
fore will not believe but their case is good. Vvhereas, 
resting in the w r ork done, and coming short of the 



Ctiap. IV. J THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. 71 

heart-work and the inward power and vitality of reli- 
gion, they fall at last into the burning, from the natter- 
ing hopes and confident persuasions of their being in 
the ready way to heaven. O dreadful case, when a 
man's religion shall serve only to harden him, and ef- 
fectually to delude and deceive his own soul! 

4. False ends in holy duties. This was the ruin of 
the Pharisees. O how many a poor soul is undone 
by this, and drops into hell before he discerns his mis- 
take! He performs his 'good duties,' and so thinks 
all is well, but perceives not that he is actuated by car- 
nal motives all the while. It is too true, that, even 
with the really sanctified, many carnal ends will oft- 
times creep in : but they are the matter of their hatred 
and humiliation, and never come to be habitually pre- 
valent with them and bear the greatest sway. But 
now, when the main thing that doth ordinarily carry 
a man out to religious duties shall be really some car- 
nal end; as to satisfy his conscience, to get the repu- 
tation of being religious, "to be seen of men," to show 
his own gifts and parts, to avoid the reproach of a pro- 
fane and irreligious person, or the like ; this discovers 
an unsound heart. O Christian ! if you w r ould avoid 
self-deceit, see that you mind not only your acts, but 
withal (yea above all) your ends. 

5. Trusting in their own righteousness. This is a 
soui-ruining mischief. When men trust in their own 
righteousness they do indeed reject Christ's. Beloved, 
you had need be watchful on every hand ; for, not only 
your sins, but your duties may undo you. It may be 
you never thought of this, but so it is, that a man may 
as certainly miscarry by his seeming righteousness 
and supposed graces as by gross sins; and that is, 
when a man doth trust to these as his righteousness 



72 THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. IV 

before God, for the satisfying his justice, appeasing his 
wrath, procuring his favor, and obtaining his own par.» 
don ; for this is to put Christ out of office, and make a 
Savior of our own duties and graces. Beware of this, 
O professors ; you are much in duties, but this one fly 
will spoil all the ointment. When you have done most 
and best, be sure go out of yourselves to Christ ; reck- 
on your own righteousness but filthy rags. 

6. A secret enmity against the strictness of religion. 
Many moral persons, punctual in their formal devo- 
tions, have a bitter enmity against strictness and zeal, 
and hate the life and power of religion. They like 
not this forwardness, nor that men should make such 
a stir in religion ; they condemn the strictness of reli- 
gion as singularity, indiscretion, and intemperate zeal, 
and with them a lively preacher or lively Christian is 
but an enthusiast. These men love not holiness as ho- 
liness, (for then they w r ould love the height of holiness,) 
and therefore are undoubtedly rotten at heart, whatever 
good opinion they have of themselves. 

7 The resting in a certain degree of religion. When 
they have so much as will save them, (as they sup- 
pose,) they look no farther, and so show themselves 
short of true grace, which will ever put men upon as- 
piring to perfection. 

8. The predominant love of the world. This is the 
sure evidence of an unsanctifled heart. But how close 
doth this sin lurk ofttimes under the fair covert of 
forward profession ! Yea, such a power of deceit i3 
there in this sin, that many times, when every body 
else can see the man's worldliness and covetousness, 
he cannot see it himself, but hath so many colors, and 
excuses, and pretences for his eagerness after the 
world that he doth blind his own eyes and perish in 



Chap. IV.] THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. 73 

his self-deceit. How many professors are there with 
whom the world hath more of their hearts and affec- 
tions than Christ, "who mind earthly things," and 
thereby are evidently after the flesh, and like to end in 
destruction I Yet ask these men, and they will tell you 
confidently they prize Christ above all ; for they see 
not their earthly-mindedness, for want of a strict obser- 
vation of the workings of their own hearts. Did they 
but carefully search, they would quickly find that their 
greatest satisfaction is in the world, and their greatest 
care and main endeavor to get and secure the world 
which are the certain signs of an unconverted sinner. 
May the professing part of the world take earnest heed 
that they perish not by the hand of this sin unobserved. 
Men may be, and often are, kept off from Christ as 
effectually by the inordinate love of lawful comforts, 
as by the most unlawful courses. 

9. Reigning malice and envy against those that dis- 
respect them, and are injurious to them. 0! how 
do many, that seem to be religious, remember injuries 
and carry grudges, rendering evil for evil, loving to 
take revenge, wishing evil to them that wrong them, 
directly against the rule of the Gospel, the pattern of 
Christ, and the nature of God ! Doubtless, where this 
evil is kept boiling in the heart, and is not hated, re- 
sisted, and mortified, but doth habitually prevail, that 
person is in the very gall of bitterness and in a state 
of death. 

Reader, doth nothing of this touch thee ? Art thou 
in none of the fore-mentioned ranks ? O search, and 
search again; take thy heart solemnly to task. Wo 
unto thee, if, after thy profession, thou shouldst be 
found under the power of ignorance, lost in formality, 
drowned in earthly-mindedness, envenomed with ma- 

*r Alarm 



74 THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. JV 

lice, exalted in an opinion of thine own righteousness, 
leavened with hypocrisy and carnal ends in God's ser- 
vice, and imbittered against strictness ; this would be a 
sad discovery, that all thy religion were in vain. But 
I must proceed. 

10. Unmortified pride. When men love the praise 
of men more than the praise of God, and set their 
hearts upon men's esteem, applause, and approbation, 
it is most certain that they are yet in their sins, and 
strangers to true conversion. When men see not, nor 
complain, nor groan under, the pride of their own 
hearts, it is a sign they are dead in sin. O, how se- 
cretly doth this sin live and reign in many hearts, and 
they know it not, but are very strangers to themselves! 

11. The prevailing love of pleasure. This is a black 
mark. When men give the flesh the liberty that it 
craves, and pamper and please it, and do not deny and 
restrain it; when their great delight is in gratifying 
their appetites and pleasing their senses; whatever 
appearances they may have of religion, all is unsound. 
A flesh-pleasing life cannot be pleasing to God : " They 
that are Christ's have crucified the flesh," and are 
careful to keep it under, as their enemy. 

12. Carnal security, or a presumptuous ungrounded 
confidence that their condition is already good. Many 
cry, peace and safety, when sudden destruction is 
coming upon them. This was that which kept the fool 
ish virgins sleeping when they should have been work- 
ing, upon their beds when they should have been at the 
markets. They perceived not their want of oil, till 
the bridegroom was come; and while they went to 
buy, the door was shut. And, O ! that these foolish 
virgins had no successors! Where is the place, yea, 
where is the house almost, where these do not dwell 1 



Chap. IV.] IMPROVEMENT OF THE SUBJECT. 75 

Men are willing to cherish in themselves, upon ever so 
slight grounds, a hope that their condition is good, and 
so look not out after a change, and by these means 
perish in their sins. Are you at peace? Show me 
upon what grounds } 7 our peace is maintained. Is it 
Scripture peace? Can you show the distinguishing 
marks of a sound believer? Can you evidence that 
you have something more than any hypocrite in the 
world ever had ? If not, fear this peace more than 
any trouble ; and know that a carnal peace doth com- 
monly prove the most mortal enemy of the soul, and, 
whilst it smiles, and kisses, and speaks fairly, doth 
fatally smite, as it were, under the fifth rib. 

By this time I think I hear my readers crying out 
with the disciples, u Who then shall be saved ?" Set 
out from among our congregations all those ten ranks 
of the profane on the one hand, and then beside take 
out all these twelve sorts of close and self-deceiving 
hypocrites on the other hand, and tell me then whether 
it be not a small remnant that shall be saved ! How 
few will be the sheep that shall be left, when all these 
shall be separated and set among the goats ! For my 
part, of all my numerous hearers, I have no hope to 
see any of them in heaven that are to be found among 
these two-and-twenty sorts that are here mentioned, 
except by sound conversion they are brought into an- 
other condition. 

Application. — And now, conscience, do thy office: 
speak out, and speak home to him that heareth or 
readeth these lines. If thou find any of these marks 
upon him, thou must pronounce him utterly unclean. 
Take not a lie in thy mouth ; speak not peace to him 
to whom God speaks no peace; let not lust bribe thee, 
or self-love or carnal prejudice blind thee. I summon 



76 IMPROVEMENT OF THE SUBJECT. [Chap. IV, 

thee from the court of heaven to come and give evi- 
dence : I require thee, in the name of God, to go with 
me in search of the suspected house. As thou wilt 
answer it at thy peril, give in a true report of the state 
and case of him that readeth this book. Conscience, 
wilt thou altogether hold thy peace at such a time as 
this ? I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell the 
truth. Is the man converted, or is he not? Doth he 
allow himself in any way of wickedness, or doth he 
not? Doth he truly love, and please, and prize, and 
delight in God above all things, or not ? Come, put it 
to an issue. 

How long shall this soul live at uncertainties ? O 
conscience, bring in thy verdict. Is this man a new 
man, or is he not ? How dost thou find it? Hath there 
passed a thorough and mighty change upon him, or 
not? When was the time, where was the place, or 
what were the means by which this thorough change 
of the new birth was wrought in his soul? Speak, 
conscience; or if thou canst not tell the time and 
place, canst thou show Scripture evidence that the 
work is done ? Hath the man been ever taken off from 
his false foundation, from the false hopes and false 
peace wherein once he trusted ? Hath he been deeply 
convinced of sin, and of his lost or undone condition, 
and brought out of himself, and off from his sins, to 
give up himself entirely to Jesus Christ? or dost thou 
not find him to this day under the power of ignorance, 
or in the mire of worldliness? Hast thou not taken 
upon him the gains of unrighteousness ? Dost thou 
not find him a stranger to prayer, a neglecter of the 
word, a lover of this present world? Dost thou not 
sometimes catch him in a lie ? Dost thou not find his 
neart fermented with malice, or burning with lust, or 



Chap. IV. IMPROVEMENT OP THE SUBJECT. 77 

going after his covetousness ? Speak plainly to all the 
forementioned particulars. Canst thou acquit this man, 
this woman, from being any of the two-and-twenty 
sorts here described? If he be found with any of 
them, set him aside ; his portion is not with the saints. 
He must be converted and made a new creature, or he 
cannot enter the kingdom of God. 

Mortals, be not your own betrayers ; do not deceive 
your own hearts, nor set your hands to your own 
ruin by a willful blinding of yourselves. Set up a tri- 
bunal in your own breasts : bring the word and con- 
science together. " To the law and to the testimony." 
Hear what the word concludes of your state. O follow 
the search till you find how the case stands. Mistake 
here, and you perish. And, such is the treachery of the 
heart, the subtlety of the tempter, and the deceitfulness 
of sin, all conspiring to flatter and deceive the poor 
soul, and withal so common and easy it is to mistake, 
that it is a thousand to one but you will be deceived, 
unless you be very careful, and earnest, and impartial 
in the inquiry into your spiritual condition. there- 
fore be diligent in your work; go to the bottom; search 
with candles ; weigh you in the balance ; come to the 
standard of the sanctuary; bring your coin to the 
touchstone. You have the archest cheats in the world 
to deal with ; a world of counterfeit coin is passing ; 
happy is he that takes no counterfeit for gold. Satan 
is master of deceit ; he can draw to the life : he is per- 
fect in the trade ; there is nothing but he can imitate. 
You cannot wish for any grace, but he can fit you to a 
hair with a counterfeit. Be jealous ; trust not so much 
to your own hearts. Go to God to search you and try 
you, to examine you and prove your reins. If other 
helps suffice not to bring all to an issue, but you are 
7* 



78 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap, V 

still at a loss, open your case ingenuously to some 
godly and faithful minister, or Christian friend. Rest 
not till you have put the business of your eternal wel- 
fare out of doubt. " O Searcher of hearts, put thou 
this soul upon, and help him in his search." 



Showing the Miseries of tfie Unconverted. 

So unspeakably dreadful is the case of every uncon- 
verted soul, that I have sometimes thought if I could 
but convince men that they are yet unregenerate, the 
work were more than half done. 

But I find by sad experience that such a spirit of 
sloth and slumber possesses the unsanctified, that, 
though they be convinced that they are yet unconvert- 
ed, they oft-times carelessly sit still ; and through the 
love of sensual pleasure, or the hurry of worldly busi- 
ness, or the noise and clamor of earthly cares, and 
lusts, and affections, the voice of conscience is drowned, 
and men go no farther than some cold wishes and 
general purposes of repenting and amending. 

It is therefore of high necessity that I not only con- 
vince men that they are unconverted, but that I also 
endeavour to bring them to a sense of the fearful 
misery of this state. 

But here I find myself aground at first setting off. 
What tongue can tell them sufficiently of their misery, 
unless it were his who was in that flame 1 Luke, 16 : 
24. Where is the ready writer whose pen can depict 
their misery who are without God in the world ? This 



Chap. V.] MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 79 

cannot fully be done, unless we know the infinite ocean 
of bliss which is in perfection in God, and from which 
a state of sin doth exclude men. "Who knoweth" 
(saith Moses) " the power of thine anger ?" And how 
shall I tell men that which I do not know? Yet so 
much we know, as one would think would shake the 
heart of that man that had the least degree of spiritual 
life and sense. 

But this is yet the more perplexing difficulty, that I 
am to speak to them that are without spiritual sense. 
Alas ! this is not the least part of man's misery, that 
he is dead, quite dead, in trespasses and sins. 

Could I bring paradise into view, or represent the 
kingdom of heaven to as much advantage as the 
tempter did the kingdoms of the world, and all the glory 
thereof, to our Savior ; or could I uncover the face of 
the deep and devouring gulf of Tophet in all its ter- 
rors, and open the gates of the infernal furnace ; alas ! 
he hath no eyes to see it. Could I paint the beauties 
of holiness or the glory of the Gospel ; or could I ex- 
pose to view the more than diabolical deformity and 
ugliness of sin: he can no more judge of the loveli- 
ness and beauty of the one, and the filthiness and hate- 
fulness of the other, than a blind man of colors. He 
is alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance 
that is in him because of the blindness of his heart. 
He neither doth nor can know the things of God, be- 
cause they are spiritually discerned. His eyes cannot 
be savingly opened but by converting grace. He is a 
child of darkness, and walks in darkness. Yea, the 
light in him is darkness. 

Shall I ring his knell, or read his sentence, or sound 
in his ears the terrible trump of God's judgments, that 
one would think should make both his ears to tingle, 



80 MISERIES OF THE UNCON VERTED. [Chap. V 

and strike him into Belshazzars fit, even to change his 
countenance, and to loose his joints, and make his knees 
to smite one against another? Alas! he perceives me 
not : he hath no ears to hear. Or shall I call up the 
daughters of music, and sing the song of Moses and 
the Lamb ? Yet he will not be stirred. Shall I allure 
him with the joyful sound, and lovely song, and glad 
tidings of the Gospel? with the most sweet and invit- 
ing calls, comforts, and cordials of the divine pro- 
mises so exceedingly great and precious? It will not 
affect him savingly, unless I could find him ears as 
well as tell him the news. 

Shall I set before him the feast of fat things, the wine 
of wisdom, the bread of God, the hidden manna? He 
hath no appetite for them, no mind to them. Should I 
press the choicest grapes, the heavenly clusters of Gos- 
pel privileges, and drink to him in the richest wine of 
God's grace; or set before him the delicious honey- 
comb of God's testimonies ? Alas ! he hath no taste 
to discern them. Shall I invite the dead to rise and 
eat the banquet of their funerals ? No more can the 
dead in sin relish the holy food wherewith the Lord of 
life hath spread his table. 

What then shall I do ? shall I uncover to him the 
lake that burnetii with fire and brimstone ? or shall I 
open the box of spikenard, very precious, that filleth 
the whole house of the universe with its perfume, and 
hope that the savor of Christ's ointments and the 
smell of his garments will attract him ? Alas ! dead 
sinners are like the dumb idols : they have mouths, but 
they speak not ; eyes have they, but they see not ; they 
have ears, but they hear not ; noses have they, but they 
smell not ; they have hands, but they handle not ; feet 
have they, but they walk not 5 neither speak they 



Chap. V.| MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 81 

through their throat. They are destitute of spiritual 
sense and motion. 

But let me try the sense that doth last leave us, and 
draw the sword of the word; yet, though I choose 
mine arrows out of God's quiver, and direct them to 
the heart, nevertheless he feeleth not; for how should 
he, being past feeling? so that, though "the wrath 
of God abideth on him," and the mountainous weight 
of so many thousand sins, yet he goes up and down as 
light as if nothing ailed him. In a word, he carries a 
dead soul in a living body, and his flesh is but the 
walking coffin of a corrupt mind that is twice dead. 
Jude, 12. 

Which way then shall I come at the miserable ob- 
jects that I have to deal with? Who shall make the 
heart of stone to relent, or the lifeless carcass to feel and 
move 1 That God who is able of " stones to raise up 
children unto Abraham ;" " that raiseth the dead," 
"and melteth the mountains," and "strikes water out of 
the flint ;" that loves to work like himself, beyond the 
hopes and belief of man ; that peoplethhis church with 
dry bones, and planteth his orchard with dry sticks ; he 
is able to do this. Therefore " I bow my knees to the 
most high God ;" and as our Savior prayed at the se- 
pulchre of Lazarus, and the Shunamite ran to the man 
of God for her dead child, so doth your mourning mi- 
nister kneel about your graves, and carry you in the 
arms of prayer to that God in whom your help is found. 

" O thou all-powerful Jehovah, who workest, and 
none can hinder thee ! who hast the keys of death and 
hell ! pity thou the dead souls that lie here entombed, 
and roll away the grave-stone, and say as to the dead 
body of Lazarus, Come forth. Lighten thou this dark- 
ness, O inaccessible Light, and let the day-spring from 



82 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V 

on high visit the dark regions of the dead, to whom I 
speak ; for thou canst open the eye that death itself 
hath closed ; thou that formedst the ear, canst restore 
the hearing : say thou to these ears, Ephphatha, and 
they shall be opened. Give thou eyes to see thine 
excellencies, a taste that may relish thy sweetness, a 
scent that may savor thy ointment, a feeling that may 
discern the privilege of thy favor, the burden of thy 
wrath, the intolerable weight of unpardoned sin ; and 
give thy servant an order to prophesy to dry bones, 
and let the effects of this prophecy be as of thy pro- 
phet when he prophesied the valley of dry bones into 
a living army exceeding great." " The hand of the 
Lord was upon me, and carried me in the Spirit of the 
Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which 
was full of bones. He said to me, Prophesy to these 
bones, and say to them, O ye dry bones, hear the voice 
of the Lord, Thus saith the Lord unto these bones, Be- 
hold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall 
live ; and I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring 
up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put 
breath in you, and ye shall live ; and ye shall know 
that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was com- 
manded : and as I prophesied, there was a noise and a 
shaking; and the bones came together, bone to his 
bone. And when I beheld, lo ! the sinews and flesh 
came upon them, and covered them above ; but there 
was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Pro- 
phesy unto the wind ; prophesy, son of man, and say 
to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from 
the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, 
that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded 
me : and the breath came into them, and they lived, 
and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army." 



Chap, v.] rra UNCONVERTED. 83 

But I must proceed, as I am able, to unfold thai mys- 
tery which. I confess, no tongue can um 
can sufficiently con: : 

Know therefore, that, while thou art unconvei 

1. 7 

It is no small pai 
out Godh' How lei the 

Bankes. "Ye have taken away my gods, and 
have i . hat a mourning then 

to him without 3 urpation! How piercing a 

moan is that of S tie Phi- 

1 from me!'' 

lion ] Whitl for help \ 

yon leave your glory ? V 

ines are upon yon; when the worid sha 

id your 
friends, houses, and land, farewell for evermore I 
What v iat have nc I 

to ? Will you call ! Will you cry to him for 

any notice of yc a 

knew you. Depart from :.. 

- God to gc 
God t, 

i 
man c: ve God or i iet me 

im, and 
I nevei had 
fee. 
art not oi 



84 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V. 

not so deeply miserable ; though God should give up 
the poor creature to the will of his enemies, to do their 
worst with him; though he should deliver him over to 
the tormentors, that devils should tear and torture him 
to their utmost power and skill, yet this were not half 
so fearful. But God will set himself against the sin- 
ner; and, believe it, "it is a fearful thing to fall into 
the hands of the living God." There is no friend like 
him, no enemy like him. As much as heaven is above 
the earth, omnipotence above impotence, infinity above 
nullity ; so much more horrible is it to fall into the 
hands of the living God, than into the paws of bears 
and lions, yea, furies or devils. God himself will be 
thy tormentor; thy destruction shall come from the 
presence of the Lord. u Tophet is deep and large, the 
pile thereof is fire and much wood, and the breath 
of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone 3 doth kin- 
dle it." 

"If God be against thee, who shall be for thee? If 
one man sin against another, the judge shall judge 
him: but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall 
entreat for him ?" " Thou, even thou, art to be feared ; 
and who shall stand in thy sight when thou art angry?" 
Who or what shall deliver you out of his hands ? Can 
mammon? "Kiehes profit not in the day of wrath." 
Can kings or warriors ? No ; " They shall cry to the 
mountains and rocks to fall on them, and hide them 
from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and 
from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his 
wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand ?" 

Sinner ! I think this should go like a dagger to thy 
heart, to know that God is thine enemy. O whither 
wilt thou go ? where wilt thou shelter thee ? There is 
no hope for thee, unless thou lay down thy weapons 



Chap. V.J MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 85 

and sue out thy pardon, and get Christ to stand thy 
friend and make thy peace. If it were not for this, 
thou mightest go into some howling wilderness, and 
there pine in sorrow, and run mad for anguish of heart 
and horrible despair. But in Christ there is a possibil- 
ity of mercy for thee, yea, a proffer of mercy to thee, 
that thou mayest have God more for thee than he is 
now against thee. But if thou wilt not forsake thy 
sins, nor turn thoroughly and to some purpose to God, 
by a sound conversion, the wrath of God abideth on 
thee, and he proclaimeth himself to be against thee, as 
in the prophet : " Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, 
Behold I, even I, am against thee !" 

1. His face is against thee. "The face of the Lord 
is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance 
of them." Wo unto them whom God shall set his 
face against. When he did but look on the host of the 
Egyptians, how terrible was the consequence ! " I 
will set my face against that man, and will make him 
a sign and a proverb, and will cut him off from the 
midst of my people ; and ye shall know that I am the 
Lord." 

2. His heart is against thee. He hateth all the 
workers of iniquity. Man, doth not thy heart tremble 
to think of thy being an object of God's hatred? 
" Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my 
mind could not be toward this people: cast them out 
of my sight." " My soul loathed them, and their soul 
also abhorred me." 

3. His hand is against thee. All his attributes are 
against thee. 

His justice is like a flaming sword unsheathed against 
thee : " If I whet my glittering sword, and my hand 
take hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to mine 

§ Alarm. 



86 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V. 

adversaries, and will reward them that hate me: I will 
make mine arrows drunk with blood," &c. 

So exact is justice, that it will by no means clear the 
guilty. God will not discharge thee, he will not hold 
thee guiltless, but will require the whole debt in person 
of thee, unless thou canst make a Scripture claim to 
Christ and his satisfaction. When the enlightened 
sinner looks on justice, and sees the balance in which 
he must be weighed and the sword by which he must 
be executed, he feels an earthquake in his breast ; but 
Satan keeps this out of sight, and persuades the soul 
(while he can) that the Lord is all made up of mercy, 
and so lulls it asleep in sin. Divine justice is exact ; 
it must have satisfaction to the utmost farthing: it 
denounceth "indignation and wrath, tribulation and 
anguish, to every soul that doeth evil." It "curseth 
every one that continueth not in all things written in 
the law to do them." The justice of God to the unpar- 
doned sinner that hath a sense of his misery, is more 
terrible than the sight of the bailiff or creditor to the 
bankrupt debtor, or than the sight of the judge and 
bench to the robber, or of the irons and gibbet to the 
guilty murderer. When justice sits upon life and 
death, what dreadful work doth it make to the wretched 
sinner! "Bind him hand and foot; cast him into outer 
darkness ; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 
"Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire." 
This is the terrible sentence that justice pronounceth. 
Sinner, by this severe justice must thou be tried ; and 
as God liveth, this killing sentence must thou hear 
unless thou repent and be converted. 

The holiness of God is directly opposed to thee. He 
is not only angry with thee, (so he may be with his 
children,) but he hath a fixed, rooted, habitual displea- 



Chap. V\] MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 87 

sure against thee. , "He loathes thee." God's nature 
is infinitely contrary to sin, and so he cannot delight in 
a sinner out of Christ. 

O what misery is this, to be out of the favor, yea, 
under the hatred of God ; that God, who can as easily 
lay aside his nature and cease to be God, as not to be 
contrary to thee and detest thee, except thou be changed 
and renewed. O sinner, how darest thou to think of 
the bright and radiant sun of purity, or the beauties, 
the glory of holiness that is in God ! " The stars are 
not pure in his sight." " He humbles himself to be- 
hold things that are done in heaven." O those light 
and sparkling eyes of his ! what do they spy in thee ? 
and hast thou no interest in Christ neither, that he 
should plead for thee ? I think he should hear thee 
crying out (astonished) with the Bethshemites, "Who 
is able to stand before this holy Lord God?" 

The power of God is mounted like a mighty cannon 
against thee. The glory of God's power is to be dis- 
played in the wonderful confusion and destruction of 
them that obey not the Gospel. He will " make his 
power known in them," how mightily he can torment 
them. For this end he raiseth them up, " that he might 
make his power known." O man, art thou able to 
make thy party good with thy Maker ? No more can 
a silly reed against the cedars of God, or a little boat 
against the rolling ocean, or the children's bubbles 
against the blustering winds. 

Sinner, the power of God's anger is against thee, 
and power and anger together make fearful work; it 
were better thou hadst all the world in arms against 
thee than to have the power of God against thee. 
There is no escaping his hands, no breaking his prison. 
" The thunder of his power, who can understand P 



88 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V 

Unhappy man that shall understand it by feeling it! 
" If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him 
one of a thousand. He is wise in heart, and mighty in 
strength : who hath hardened himself against him, and 
prospered ? which removeth the mountains, and they 
know it not ; which overturneth them in his anger ; 
which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pil- 
lars thereof tremble ; which commandeth the sun, and 
it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars! Behold, he 
taketh away, who can hinder him ? Who will say 
unto him, What doest thou 1 If God will not withdraw 
his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him. 55 And 
art thou a fit match for such an antagonist 1 "O con- 
sider this, ye that forget God, lest he tear you in pieces, 
and there be none to deliver. 55 Submit to mercy ; let 
not dust and stubbie stand out against the Almighty ; 
set not briars and thorns against him in battle, lest he 
go through them, and consume them together; but lay 
hold on his strength, that you may " make peace with 
him. 55 "Wo to him that striveth with his Maker ! 55 

The wisdom of God is set to ruin thee. He hath 
ordained his arrows, and prepared instruments of 
death, and made all things ready. His counsels are 
against thee, to contrive thy destruction. He laughs 
to see how thou wilt be taken and ensnared in the evil 
day. " The Lord shall laugh at him, for he seeth that 
his day is coming. 55 He sees how thou wilt come down 
mightily in a moment; how thou wilt wring thy hands 
and gnash thy teeth for anguish of heart, when thou 
seest thou art fallen irremediably into the pit of de- 
struction, 

The truth of God is sworn against thee. If he be 
true and faithful, thou must perish if thou goest on. 
Unless he be false to his word, thou must die, except 



Chap. V.] MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 89 

thou repent. If we believe not, yet he abideth faith- 
ful; he cannot deny himself; that is, he is faithful 
to his threatenings as well as to his promises, and will 
show his faithfulness in our confusion, if we believe 
not. God hath told thee as plain as it can be spoken, 
that " if he wash thee not, thou hast no part in him ;" 
that "if thou livest after the flesh, thou shalt die;" 
that " except thou be converted, thou shalt in no wise 
enter into the kingdom of heaven." Beloved, as the 
immutable faithfulness of God in his promise and oath 
affords believers strong consolation, so they are to un- 
believers for strong consternation and confusion. 

O sinner, tell me what dost thou think of all the 
threatenings of God's word that stand upon record 
against thee ? Dost thou believe they are truth or not? 
If not, thou art a wretched infidel. But, if thou dost 
believe them, O heart of steel, that thou canst walk up 
and down in quiet, when the truth and faithfulness of 
God are engaged to destroy thee ! so that, if the Al- 
mighty can do it, thou must surely perish. The whole 
book of God doth testify against thee while thou re- 
mainest unsanctified : it condemns thee in every leaf, 
and is to thee like EzekiePs roll, written within and 
without with lamentation, and mourning, and wo. 
And all this shall surely come upon thee and overtake 
thee, except thou repent. "Heaven and earth shall 
pass away, but one jot or tittle of this word shall never 
pass away." 

Now, put all this together, and tell me if the case of 
the unconverted be not deplorably miserable. As we 
read of some persons that had bound themselves by 
an oath and a curse to kill Paul: so thou must know, 
O sinner, to thy terror, that all the attributes of an in- 
finite God are bound by an oath to punish thee. O 
8* 



90 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. | Chap. V. 

man, what wilt thou do? whither wilt thou flee? If 
God's omniscience can find thee, thou shalt not escape. 
If the true and faithful God regard his oath, perish 
thou must, except thou believe and repent. If the Al- 
mighty hath power to torment thee, thou must be per- 
fectly miserable in soul and body to all eternity, unless 
it be prevented by speedy conversion. 

II. The whole creation of God is against thee. 
" The whole creation (saith Paul) groaneth and travail- 
eth in pain." But what is it that the creation groan- 
eth under ? why, the fearful abuse that it is subject to 
in serving the lusts of unsanctified men. And what is 
it that the creation groaneth for? why, for freedom 
and liberty from this abuse; for the "creature is very 
unwillingly subject to this bondage." If the irrational 
and inanimate creatures had speech and reason, they 
would cry out under it, as a bondage insufferable, to be 
abused by the ungodly, contrary to their natures and 
the ends that the great Creator made them for. It is a 
saying of an eminent divine, ' The liquor that the drunk- 
ard drinketh, if it had reason, like a man, to know how 
shamefully it is abused, it would groan in the barrel 
against him, it would groan in the cup against him, 
groan in his throat, in his stomach against him ; it 
would fly in his face, if it could speak. And if God 
should open the mouths of his creatures, as he did the 
mouth of Balaam's ass, the proud man's garment on 
his back would groan against him. There is never a 
creature, but if it had reason to know how it is abused 
till a man be converted, would groan against him : the 
land would groan to bear him ; the air would groan to 
give him breath ; their houses would groan to lodge 
them ; their beds would groan to ease them, their food 



Chap. V.J MISERIES OP THE UNCONVERTED. 91 

to nourish them, their clothes to cover them, and the 
creature would groan to give them any help and com- 
fort, so long as they live in sin against God.' 

I think this should be a terror to an unconverted 
soul, to think he is a burden to the creation : " Cut it 
down ; why cumbereth it the ground ?" If inanimate 
creatures could but speak, thy food would say, Lord, 
must I nourish such a wretch as this, and yield forth 
my strength for him to dishonor thee? No, I will 
choke him rather, if thou wilt give me permission. 
The very air would say, Lord, must I give this man 
breath to speak against Heaven, and scorn thy people, 
and vent his pride and wrath, and filthy communica- 
tion, and utter oaths and blasphemy against thee ? No, 
if thou but say the word, he shall be breathless for 
me. His poor beast would say, Lord, must I carry 
him upon his wicked design ? No, I will break his 
bones, I will end his days rather, if I may have leave 
from thee. A wicked man ! the earth groans under 
him, and hell groans for him, till death satisfies both, 
and unburdens the earth. While the Lord of hosts is 
against thee, be sure the host of the Lord is against 
thee, and all the creatures, as it were, up in arms, till, 
upon a man's conversion, the controversy being set- 
tled between God and him, he makes a covenant of 
peace with the creature for him. 

III. The roaring lion, Satan, hath his full power up- 
on thee. Thou art led captive by him at his will. 
This is the spirit that worketh in the children of diso- 
bedience. He is the ruler of the darkness of this 
world, that is, of ignorant sinners who live in darkness. 
You pity the poor Indians that worship the devil for 
their god, but little think it is your own case. Why, 



92 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V 

it is the common misery of all the unsanctified, that 
the devil is their God. Not that they intend to do him 
homage; they will be ready to defy him, and him that 
should say so of them ; but all this while they serve 
him, and live under his government. His servants ye 
are to whom ye obey. Rom. 6 : 16. O how many 
then will be found the real servants of the devil, that 
take themselves for no other than the children of God ! 
fie can no sooner offer a sinful delight or opportunity 
for your unlawful advantage, but you embrace it. If 
he suggest a lie, or prompt you to revenge, you readi- 
ly obey. If he forbid you to read or pray, you heark- 
en to him, and therefore his servants you are. Indeed 
he stands behind the curtain, he acts in the dark, and 
sinners see not who setteth them on work, but all the 
while he leads them. v Doubtless the liar intends not 
a service to Satan, but his own advantage ; yet it is he 
that stands unobserved and putteth the thing into his 
heart. Undoubtedly Judas, when he sold his Master 
for money, and the Chaldeans and Sabeans, when they 
plundered Job, intended not to do the devil a pleasure, 
but to satisfy their own covetous thirst ; yet it was he 
that actuated them in their wickedness. Men may be . 
very slaves and common drudges for the devil, and 
never know it : nay, they may please themselves in 
thoughts of liberty. 

Art thou yet in ignorance, and not turned from dark- 
ness unto light? Why, thou art under the power of 
Satan. Dost thou live in the wilful practice of any 
known sin ? Know that thou art of the devil. Dost 
thou live in strife, or envy, or malice ? Verily he is thy 
father. O dreadful case ! However Satan may pro- 
vide his slaves with divers pleasures, yet it is but to 
draw them into endless perdition. The serpent conies 



Chap. V.J MISERIES OF Tkii* UNCONVERTED. 93 

with the fruit in his mouth, O but (with Eve) thou 
seest not the deadly sting in his tail! He that is now 
thy tempter, will one day be thy tormentor. O that I 
could but give thee to see how black a master thov 
servest, how filthy a drudgery thou dost, how merci- 
less a tyrant thou gratifiest ; all whose pleasure is to 
set thee on work to make thy perdition and damnation 
sure, and to heat the furnace hotter and hotter in which 
thou must burn for millions and millions of ages! 

IV. The guilt of all thy sins lies like a mountain 
upon thee. Poor soul ! thou feelest it not ; but this is 
that which seals thy misery upon thee. While un- 
converted, none of thy sins are blotted out, they are 
all upon the score against thee. Regeneration and re- 
mission are never separated ; the unsanctified are un- 
questionably unjustified and unpardoned. It is a fear- 
ful thing to be in debt, but above all, in God's debt ; 
for there is no arrest so formidable as his, no prison so 
dreary as his. Look upon an enlightened sinner who 
feels the weight of his own guilt : O how frightful are 
his looks, how fearful are his complaints ! his comforts 
are turned into wormwood, and his moisture into 
drought, and his sleep is departed from his eyes. He 
is a terror to himself and all that are about him, and is 
ready to envy the very stones that lie in the street, be- 
cause they are senseless and feel not his misery, and 
wisheth he had been a dog, or a toad, or a serpent, 
rather than a man, because then death had put an end 
to his misery ; whereas now it will be but the begin- 
ning of that which will know no ending. 

How light soever you may make it now, you will 
one day find the guilt of unpardoned sin to be a heavy 
burden. This is a mill-stone, that "whosoever falleth 



94 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V 

upon it shall be broken; but upon whomsoever it shall 
fall, it shall grind him to powder." The guilt of our 
sins caused the agony and death of the blessed Savior. 
And if it did this in the green tree, what will it do in 
the dry? 

O think of thy case in time ! Canst thou think of 
that threat without trembling, "Ye shall die in your 
sins?" 0, better were it for thee to die in a jail, in a 
ditch, in a dungeon, than die in thy sins ! If death, as 
it will take away all thy comforts, would take away 
thy sins too, it were some mitigation ; but thy sins will 
follow thee when thy friends leave thee, and all worldly 
enjoyments shake hands with thee. Thy sins will not 
die with thee as a prisoner's other debts will ; but they 
will go to judgment with thee, there to be thy accusers ; 
and they will go to hell with thee, there to be thy tor- 
mentors. Better to have so many fiends and furies 
about thee, than thy sins to fall upon thee and fasten 
on thee. O the work that these will make thee ! O 
look over thy debts in time, how much thou art in the 
books of every one of God's laws ; how every one of 
God's commandments is ready to arrest thee, and take 
thee by the throat for the innumerable bonds it hath 
upon thee ! What wilt thou do then, when they shall 
all together come in against thee? Hold open the 
eyes of thy conscience to consider this, that thou may- 
est despair of thyself and be driven to Christ, and flee 
for refuge to "lay hold on the hope that is set before 
thee." 

V. Thy raging lusts do miserably enslave thee. 
While unconverted, thou art a very servant to sin : it 
reigns over thee, and holds thee under its dominion, 
till thou art brought within the bonds of God's cove- 



Chap. V.] MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 95 

nant. There is not such another tyrant as sin. O the 
filthy and fearful work that it doth engage its ser- 
vants in ! 

Would it not pierce thy heart to see a company of 
poor creatures drudging and toiling to carry together 
fagots and fuel for their own burning 1 This is the 
employment of sin's drudges. Even while they bless 
themselves in their unrighteous gains, while they sing 
in pleasures, they are but treasuring up vengeance for 
their eternal burning ; they are but adding to the pile 
of Tophet, and flinging in oil to make the flame rage 
the fiercer. Who would serve such a master, whose 
work is drudgery, whose wages are death? 

What a woful spectacle was the poor wretch pos- 
sessed with the legion! Would it not have grieved 
thy heart to have seen him among the tombs cutting 
and wounding himself? This is thy case ; such is thy 
work; every stroke is a thrust at thy heart. Con- 
science indeed is now asleep; but, when death and 
judgment shall bring thee to thy senses, then wilt thou 
feel the anguish in every wound. The convinced sin- 
ner is a sensible instance of the miserable bondage of 
sin : conscience flies upon him, and tells him the end 
of these things ; and yet such a slave he is to his lusts 
that on he goes, though he sees it will be his perdition • 
when the temptation comes, lust breaks the cords of all 
liis vows and promises, and carries him headlong to 
his own destruction. 

YI. The furnace of eternal vengeance is heated ready 
for thee. Hell and destruction open their mouths upon 
thee ; they gape for thee ; they groan for thee, Isa. 5 : 
14; waiting as it were with a greedy eye as thou 
standee on the brink. If the wrath of men be " as the 



ytf MISERIES OP THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V. 

roaring of a lion," " more heavy than the sands," what 
is the wrath of the infinite God ! If the burning fur- 
nace heated in Nebuchadnezzar's fiery rage, when he 
commanded it to be made yet seven times hotter, was 
so fierce as to burn up even those that drew near to 
throw the three children in, how hot is that burning ot 
the Almighty's fury ! Surely this is seventy times se- 
ven more fierce. What thinkest thou, O man, of be- 
ing a fagot in hell to all eternity ? " Can thine heart 
endure, or can thine hands be strong in the day that I 
shall deal with thee ? saith the Lord of hosts." Canst 
thou abide the everlasting burnings ? Canst thou dwell 
with consuming fire ? when thou shalt be as glowing 
iron in hell, and thy whole body and soul shall be as 
perfectly possessed by God's burning vengeance as the 
sparkling iron with fire, when heated in the fiercest 
furnace ? Thou canst not bear God's whip ; how then 
wilt thou endure his scorpions 1 Thou art even crush- 
ed, and ready to wish thyself dead, under the weight 
of his finger, how then wilt thou bear the weight of his 
heavy arm 1 Some of the choicest servants of God, 
when under the hidings of his face, and dreading the 
effects of his displeasure, have bewailed their condi- 
tion with bitter lamentations. How then wilt thou en- 
dure when God shall pour out all his vials, and set him- 
self against thee, to torment thee? when he shall make 
thy conscience the tunnel by which he will be pouring 
his burning wrath into thy soul for ever, and when he 
shall fill all thy pores as full of torment as they are 
now full of sin ; when immortality shall be thy misery, 
and to die the death of a brute, and be swallowed in 
the gulf of annihilation, shall be such a felicity as the 
whole eternity of wishes and an ocean of tears shall 
never purchase ? 



Chap- V.J MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 97 

Now thou canst put off the evil day, and laugh and 
be merry, and forget " the terror of the Lord." But how 
wilt thou hold out, or hold up, when God will cast 
thee into a " bed of torments," and make thee to " lie 
down in sorrow ?" when roarings and blasphemies shall 
be thy only music, and the wine of the wrath of God, 
which is poured out without mixture into the cup of 
his indignation, shall be thy only drink? and when 
thou shalt draw in flames for thy breath ? in a word, 
when the smoke of thy torment shall ascend for ever 
and ever, and thou shalt have no rest day nor night, no 
rest in thy conscience, no ease in thy bones ; but thou 
shalt be an execration and astonishment, and a curse 
and a reproach! for evermore? Jer. 42 : 18. 

O sinner ! stop here, and consider. If thou art a man, 
and not a senseless block, consider. Bethink thyself 
where thou standest — why, upon the very brink of 
this furnace. As the Lord liveth, and thy soul liveth, 
there is but a step between thee and this. Thou know- 
est not, when thou liest down, but thou mayest be in 
hell before morning : thou knowest not, when thou 
risest, but thou mayest drop in before night. Barest 
thou make light of this? Wilt thou go on in such a 
dreadful condition, as if nothing ailed thee ? If thou 
puttest it off, and sayest, " This doth not belong to 
thee," look again over the foregoing chapter, and tell 
me the truth. Are none of those black marks found 
upon thee? Do not blind thine eyes; do not deceive 
thyself; see thy misery while thou mayest prevent it. 
Think what it is to be a vile outcast, a lost reprobate, 
a vessel of wrath, into which the Lord will be pouring 
o.it his tormenting fury while he hath a being. 

Divine wrath is a fierce, devouring, everlasting, un- 
quenchable fire 3 and thy soul and body must be the 

9 41arui. 



98 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V 

fuel upon which it must be feeding for ever, unless 
thou consider thy ways, and speedily turn to the Lord 
by a sound conversion. They that have been singed 
by this fire, and had but the smell thereof passing upon 
them before they died, O what amazing spectacles 
they have been ! Whose heart would not have melted 
to have heard Spira's outcries ? — to have seen Chalo- 
ner, that monument of justice, worn to skin and bone, 
blaspheming the God of heaven, cursing himself, and 
continually crying out, " torture, torture, torture ! 
O torture, torture I" as if the flames of wrath had already 
taken hold en him ? — to have heard Rogers crying out, 
"' I have had a little pleasure, but now I must have hell 
for evermore!" wishing but for this mitigation, that 
God would but let him lie burning for ever behind the 
back of that fire, (on the hearth,) and bringing in his 
sad conclusion still, at the end of whatever was spoken 
to him to afford him some hope, " I must go to hell, I 
must go to hell, I must go to the furnace of hell, for 
millions and millions of ages i" O ! if the fears and 
forethoughts of the wrath to come be so terrible, so in- 
tolerable, what must be the feeling of it ? 

Sinner, it is in vain to flatter you : this would be but 
to draw you into the unquenchable fire. Know ye 
from the living God, that here you must lie; with 
these burnings you must dwell till immortality die 
and immutability change, till eternity run out and om- 
nipotence is no longer able to punish, except you be in 
good earnest renewed throughout by sanctifying grace. 

VII. The law discharges all its threats and curses at 
thee. O how dreadfully doth it thunder ! It flashes de- 
vouring five in thy face. Its words are as drawn swords, 
and as the sharp arrows of the mighty. It demands sa- 



Chap V.J MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 99 

tlsfaction to the utmost, and cries, Justice ! Justice ! It 
speaks blood, and war, and wounds, and death, against 
thee. 

Read Deuteronomy. O man, away to thy strong 
hold j away from thy sins ; haste to the sanctuary, the 
city of refuge — even the Lord Jesus Christ ; hide thee 
in him, or else thou art lost, without any hope of re 
covery. 

VIII. The Gospel itself bindeth the sentence of eter- 
nal damnation upon thee. If thou continuest in thine 
impenitent and unconverted state, know that the Gos- 
pel denounceth a much sorer condemnation than ever 
would have been for the transgression only of the first 
covenant. Is it not a dreadful case to have the Gospel 
itself fill its mouth with threats, thunder, and damna- 
tion? " To have the Lord to roar from mount Zion 
against thee ?" " Hear the terror of the Lord. He that 
believeth not shall be damned. Except ye repent, ye 
shall all perish." " This is the condemnation, that light 
is come into the world, and men love darkness rather 
than light." " He that believeth not, the wrath of God 
abideth on him." " If the word spoken by angels was 
steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience re- 
ceived a just recompense of reward, how shall we es- 
cape if we neglect so great salvation ?" " He that des- 
pised Moses' law died without mercy : of how much 
sorer punishment sball he be thought worthy that hath 
trodden under foot the Son of God?" 

Application. — And is this true indeed ? Is this thy 
misery? Yea, it is as true as God is. Better open thine 
eyes and see it now, while thou mayest remedy it, than 
blind and harden thyself till (to thy eternal sorrow) 
thou shalt feel what thou wouldst not believe; and if 



100 MISERIES OP THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V. 

it be true, what dost tliou mean, to loiter and linger in 
such a case as this ? 

Alas for thee, poor man ! how effectually hath sin 
undone thee, and deprived and despoiled thee even of 
thy reason to look after thine own everlasting good ! 
O miserable wretch I what stupidity and senselessness 
have surprised thee ! O let me knock up and awake 
this sleeper ! Who dwells within the walls of this 
flesh? Is there ever a soul here, a rational, under- 
standing soul? or art thou only a senseless lump? 

Art thou a reasonable soul, and yet so far brutified 
as to forget that thou art immortal, and to think thyself 
to be as the beasts that perish ? Art thou turned into 
flesh, that thou savorest nothing but gratifying the 
sense, and making provision for the flesh? or else, 
having reason to understand the eternity of the future 
state, dost thou yet make light of being everlastingly 
miserable, which is to be so much below the brute, as 
it is worse to act against reason than to act without it ? 
O unhappy soul, that wast the glory of man, the com- 
panion of angels, and the image of God ! that wast 
God's representative in the world, and hadst the su- 
premacy amongst the creatures, and the dominion over 
thy Maker's works ! art thou now become a slave to 
sense, a servant to so base an idol as thy belly, pam- 
pering a vile body that must soon be food for worms? 
or art thou heaping together a little refined earth, no 
more suitable to thy spiritual immortal nature than the 
dirt and sticks ? O why dost thou not bethink thee 
where thou shalt be for ever ? Death is at hand ; " the 
J iidge is even at the door." Yet a little while, and 
" time shall be no longer." And wilt thou run the 
hazard of continuing in such a state, in which, if thou 
be overtaken, thou art irrecoverably miserable? 



Chap. V.] MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 101 

Come then, arise, and attend thy nearest concern- 
ments ! Tell me whither art thou going ? What ! wilt 
thou live in such a course, wherein every act is a step 
to perdition ; and thou dost not know but the next night 
thou mayest make thy bed in hell ? O ! if thou hast a 
spark of reason, consider, and turn and hearken to thy 
true friend, who would show thee thy present misery, 
that thou mightest in time make thine escape, and be 
eternally happy. 

Hear what the Lord saith : " Fear ye not me? saith 
the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence? 13 O 
sinners, do you make light of " the wrath to come V J 
I am sure there is a time coming when you will not 
make light of it. Why, the very " devils believe and 
tremble." What ! are you more hardened than they ? 
Will you run upon the edge of the rock? Will you 
play at the hole of the asp ? Will you put your hand 
upon the cockatrice's den? Will you dance upon the 
fire till you are burnt, or dally with devouring wrath as 
if you were indifferent whether you escape or endure 
it? O madness of folly! like that of a madman that 
casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, and saith, " Am 
not I in sport !" There is no one so insane as the wil- 
ful sinner, that goeth on in his unconverted state with- 
out sense, as if nothing ailed him. The man that runs 
"into the cannon's mouth, and sports with his blood, or 
lets out his life in a frolic, is sensible, sober, and serious, 
compared with him that goeth on still in his trespasses ; 
for "he stretcheth out his hand against God, and 
strengtheneth himself against the Almighty : he run- 
neth upon him, even upon his neck, upon the thick 
bosses of his buckler." Is it wisdom to sport with the 
second death, or to venture into the lake that burnetii 
with fire and brimstone, as if thou wert but going to 



102 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V 

wash thee, or swim for recreation ? Wilt thou, as it 
were, jump into eternal flames, as the children through 
the bonfire 1 What shall I say ? I can find out no ex- 
pression, no comparison, whereby to set forth the 
dreadful madness of the soul that will go on in sin. 

Awake, awake ! O sinner, arise and take thy flight. 
There is but one door that thou mayest flee by, and 
that is the strait door of conversion and the new birth. 
Unless thou turn unfeignedly from all thy sins, and 
come to Jesus Christ, and take him for the Lord thy 
righteousness, and walk in him in holiness and new- 
ness of life ; as the Lord liveth, it is not more certain 
that thou art now out of hell, than that thou shalt with- 
out fail be in it but a few days or nights hence. O set 
thy heart to think of thy case. Is not thy everlasting 
misery or welfare that which doth deserve a little 
consideration 1 Look again over the miseries of the 
unconverted. If the Lord hath not spoken by me, re- 
gard me not ; but if it be the very word of God that all 
this misery lies upon thee, what a case art thou in ! Is 
it for one that hath his senses to live in such a condi- 
tion, and not to make all possible expedition for pre- 
venting his utter ruin ? O man, who hath bewitched 
thee, Gal. 3 : 1, that in the matters of this present life 
thou shalt be wise enough to forecast thy business, 
foresee thy danger, and prevent thy ruin; but in mat- 
ters of everlasting consequence be slight and careless, 
as if they little concerned thee? Why, is it nothing 
to thee to have all the attributes of God engaged against 
thee? Canst thou do well without his favor? Canst 
thou escape his hands, or endure his vengeance ? Dost 
thou hear the creation groaning under thee, and hell 
groaning for thee, and yet think thy case good enough? 
Art thou under the power of corruption, in the dark 



Chap. V.) MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED, 103 

noisome prison, fettered with lusts, working out thy 
own damnation — and is not this worth a thought? 

Wilt thou make light of all the terrors of the law, of 
all its curses and thunderbolts, as if they were but the 
threatenings of a child ? Dost thou laugh at hell and 
destruction, or canst thou drink the envenomed cup of 
the Almighty's fury, as if it were but a common po- 
tion? 

Gird up now thy loins like a man, for I will demand 
of thee, and answer thou me. Art thou such a leviathan 
as that the scales of thy pride should keep thee from 
thy Maker's coming at thee ? Wilt thou esteem his 
arrows as straw, and the instruments of death as rotten 
wood? Art thou chief of all the children of pride, even 
that thou shouldst count his darts as stubble, and laugh 
at the shaking of his spear ? Art thou made without 
fear, and contemnest thou his barbed arrows? Art 
thou like the horse that paweth in the valley and re- 
joiceth in his strength, who goeth out to meet the armed 
men? Dost thou mock at fear, and art thou not af- 
frighted, neither turnest back from God's sword when 
his quiver rattleth against thee, the glittering spear and 
the shield? Well, if the threats and caJs of the word 
will not fright thee nor awaken thee, I am sure death 
and judgment will. O what wilt thou do when the 
Lord cometh forth against thee, and in his fury falleth 
upon thee, and thou shalt feel what thou readest? If 
when Daniel's enemies were cast into the den of lions, 
both they and their wives and their children, the lions 
had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in 
pieces ere they came at the bottom of the den, Dan. 6 : 
24, what shall become of thee when thou fallest into 
the hands of the living God, when he shall gripe thee in 
his strong arms, and grind and crush thee in his wrath ? 



104 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. | Chap. VI. 

do not then contend with God. " Repent and 
be converted," so none of this shall come upon thee 
" Seek ye the Lord while he may be found ; call ye 
upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake 
his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and 
let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy 
upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly par- 
don." 



CHAPTER VI. 

CONTAINING DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 

And there came one, and kneeled io him, and ashed Mm, Good 
Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 
Mark, 10 : 17. 

Before thou readest these directions, I advise thee, 
yea, I charge thee, before God and his holy angels, 
that thou resolve to follow them, (as far as conscience 
shall be convinced of their agreeableness to God's 
word and thy state,) and call in his assistance and 
blessing that they may succeed. And as I have sought 
the Lord and consulted his oracles what advice to give 
thee, so must thou entertain it with that awe, reverence, 
and purpose of obedience which the word of the liv- 
ing God requires. 

Now then, attend : " Set your heart unto all that I shall 
testify unto you this day ; for it is not a vain thing — it 
is your life." This is the end of all that has been spo- 
ken hitherto, to bring you to set your heart to this 
great work and turn without delay to the living God. 
I would not trouble you, nor "torment you before the 
time/- with the thoughts of your eternal misery, but 



Chap. VI.] DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 105 

in order to your making your escape. Were you shut 
up under your present misery without remedy, it were 
but mercy (as one speaks) to let you alone, that you 
might take in that little poor comfort which you are 
capable of in this world ; but you may yet be happy, 
if you do not wilfully refuse the means of your re- 
covery. Behold, I hold open the door to you , arise, 
take your flight; I set the way of life before you; walk 
in it, and you shall live, and not die. It grieves me to 
think you should be your own murderers, and throw 
yourselves headlong, when God and man cry out to 
you, as Peter in another case to his Master, " Spare 
thyself." 

The destruction of ungodly men is wilful. God 
that made them crieth out to them, as Paul to the dis- 
tracted jailor when about-to. murder himself, "Do thy- 
self no harm." The ministers of Christ forewarn them, 
and follow them, and would gladly have them back ; 
but alas ! no expostulations or entreaties will prevail, 
but men will hurl themselves into perdition, while pity 
itself looketh on. 

What shall I say ? Would it not grieve a person of 
any humanity, if, in the time of a raging plague, he 
should have a remedy (as one said well) that would 
infallibly cure all the country and recover the most 
hopeless patients, and yet his friends and neighbors 
should die by hundreds about him, because they would 
not use it ? Men and brethren, though you carry the 
certain symptoms of death in your faces, yet I have a 
receipt that will cure you all infallibly. Follow but 
these directions, and if you do not then reach heaven, 
I will be content to lose it. 

Hear then, O sinner ! and as ever thou wouldst be 
converted and saved, embrace this following counsel. 



LOG DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [ Chap. VI. 

I. Attend conscientiously upon the word, as the 
means appointed for thy conversion. Attend, I say, 
not customarily, but conscientiously ; with this desire, 
design, hope, and expectation, that thoumayestbe con- 
verted by it. To every sermon thou nearest come with 
this thought ; ' O I hope God will now come in ; I hope 
this day may be the time, this may be the man by 
whom God will bring me home.' When thou art 
coming to the privileges of God's house, lift up thy 
heart thus to God: "Lord, let this be the Sabbath, let 
this be the season wherein I may receive renewing 
grace. O let it be said that this day such a one was 
born unto thee." 

Object. Thou wilt say, I have been long a hearer of 
the word, and yet it hath not been effectual to my con- 
version. Ans. Yea; but thou hast not attended upon 
it in this manner, nor resolved to receive it into thine 
heart, and obey all the words which the Lord your 
God should speak unto you. 

II. Set upon the constant and diligent use of serious 
and fervent prayer. He that neglects prayer is a pro- 
fane and unsanctified sinner. He that is not constant 
in prayer is but a hypocrite, unless the omission be 
contrary to his ordinary course, under the force of 
some instant temptation. This is one of the first 
things conversion appears in, that it sets men a pray- 
ing, Therefore set to this duty ; let not one day pass 
over thee wherein thou hast not morning and evening, 
set apart some time for set and solemn prayer in secret. 
Call thy family also together daily and duly to wor- 
ship God with thee. Wo be unto thee, if thou be 
found among the families that call not upon God's 
name. But cold and lifeless devotions will not reach 
half way to heaven. Be fervent and importunate. 



Chap. VI.] DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 107 

Importunity will carry it; but without violence the 
kingdom of heaven will not be taken. Thou must 
strive to enter, and wrestle with tears and supplica- 
tions, as Jacob, if thou meanest to carry the blessing. 
Thou art undone for ever without grace, and therefore 
thou must set to it, and resolve to take no denial. That 
man who is fixed in this resolution says: 'Weil, I must 
have grace, or I will never give over till I have grace ; 
I will never cease earnestly pleading, and striving with 
God and my own heart, till he doth renew me by the 
power of his grace.' 

III. Forsake thy evil company, and forbear the occa- 
sions of sin. 

Thou wilt never be turned from sin till thou wilt de- 
cline and forego the temptations of sin. I never ex- 
pect thy conversion from sin, unless thou art brought 
to some self-denial, so as to flee the occasions. If thou 
wilt be nibbling at the bait, and playing on the brink, 
and tampering and meddling with the snare, thy soul 
will surely be taken. W^here God doth expose men, 
in his providence, unavoidably to temptation, and the 
occasions are such as we cannot remove, we may ex- 
pect special assistance in the use of his means j but 
when we tempt God by running into danger, he will 
not engage to support us when we are tempted. And, 
of ail temptations, one of the most fatal and pernicious 
is evil companions. O what hopeful beginnings have 
these often stifled ! O the souls, the estates, the fami- 
lies, the towns, that these have ruined ! How many 
poor sinners have been enlightened and convinced 
and been just ready to give the devil the slip, and have 
even escaped the snare ; and yet wicked company has 
pulled them back at last, and made them seven-fold 
more the children of hell ? In a word, I have no hopes 



108 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. j Chap. Vh 

of thee, except thou wilt shake off thy evil company. 
Thy life depends upon it : forsake this, or else thou 
canst not live. Wilt thou be worse than the beast, to 
run on when thou seest the Lord with a drawn sword 
in the way ? Let this sentence be written in capitals 
upon thy conscience: "a companion of fools shall 
be destroyed." The Lord hath spoken it, and who 
shall reverse it 1 

And wilt thou run upon destruction, when God him- 
self doth forewarn thee? If God doth ever change 
thy heart, it will appear in the change of thy company. 
O fear and flee the gulf by which so many thousand 
souls have been swallowed up in perdition. It will he 
hard for thee indeed to make thy escape. Thy com- 
panions will be mocking thee out of thy religion, and 
will study to fill thee with prejudices against strictness, 
as ridiculous and comfortless. They will be flattering 
thee and alluring thee ; but remember the warnings ot 
the Holy Ghost, "My son, if sinners entice thee, con- 
sent thou not. If they say, Come with us, cast in thy 
lot among us ; walk thou not in the way with them, 
refrain thy foot from their path \ avoid it, pass not by 
it, turn from it, and pass away. For the way of the 
wicked is as darkness, they know not at what they 
stumble. They lie in wait for their own blood, they 
lurk privily for their own lives." My soul is moved 
within me to see how many of my hearers and read- 
ers are likely to perish, both they and their houses, by 
this wretched mischief, even the haunting of such pla- 
ces and company, whereby they are drawn into sin. 
Once more I admonish you, as Moses did Israel. "And 
he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray 
you, from the tents of these wicked men." flee them 
as you would those that had the plague-sores running 



Chap. VI.] DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. ]09 

in their foreheads. These are the devil's panders and 
decoys ; and if thou dost not make thy escape they 
will draw thee into perdition, and will prove thy eter- 
nal ruin. 

IV. Set apart a day to humble thy soul in secret by 
fasting and prayer, to work a sense of thy sins and 
miseries upon thy heart. 

Read over our Lord's discourse, Matt. 5, and write 
down the duties omitted and sins committed by thee 
against every commandment, and so make a catalogue 
of thy sins, and with shame and sorrow spread them 
before the Lord. 

V. Strike in with the Spirit when he begins to work 
upon thy heart. When he works convictions, O do not 
stifle them, but join in with him, and beg the Lord to 
give you saving conversion. "Quench not the Spi- 
rit;" do not reject him, do not resist him. Beware of 
putting out convictions with evil company or worldly 
business. When thou art in anguish on account of 
sin, and fears about thy eternal state, beg of God that 
you may have peace only in thoroughly renouncing all 
sin, loathing it in thy inmost soul, and giving thy 
whole heart, without reserve, to Christ. Say to him, 
"Strike home, Lord; leave not the work in the midst. 
Show me all my guilt, so far as nature can bear it. O 
go to the bottom of my corruption, and let out the 
life-blood of my sins." Thus yield up thyself to the 
working of the Spirit, and hoist thy sails to his gusts. 

VI. Set it down with thyself as an undoubted truth, 
that it is impossible for thee ever to get to heaven in 
this thy unconverted state. 

Can any other but Christ save thee? and he tells 
thee he will never do it except thou be regenerated and 
10 

Alarm. 



110 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. VI, 

converted. Doth he not keep the keys of heaven ? and 
canst thou go in without his leave? as thou must, if 
ever thou come thither in thy natural condition, with- 
out a sound and thorough renovation. 

VII. Labor to get a thorough sight and lively sense 
and feeling of thy sins. 

Till men are weary and heavy laden, and pricked at 
the heart, and quite sick of sin, they will not come to 
Christ, in his way, for cure, nor to purpose inquire, 
"What shall we do?" They must set themselves 
down for dead men, before they will come unto Christ 
that they may have life. Labor, therefore, to set all 
thy sins in order before thee ; never be afraid to look 
upon them, but let thy spirit make diligent search. 
Inquire into thine heart, and into thy life ; enter into 
a thorough examination of thyself and all thy ways, 
that thou mayest make a full discovery ; and call in 
the help of God's Spirit, in the sense of thine own ina- 
bility hereunto, for it is his proper work to convince 
of sin. Spread all before thy conscience, till thy heart 
and eyes be set weeping. Leave not striving with God 
and thine own soul, till it cry out under the sense of 
thy sins, as the enlightened jailor, "What must I do to 
be saved V* To this purpose, 

Meditate on the number of thy sins. David's heart 
failed when he thought of this, and considered that he 
had more sins than hairs on his head. This made him 
cry ^ut upon the multitude of God's tender mercies. 
An unsanctified soul swarms with filthy lusts: they 
fill the head, the heart, the eyes, the mouth. Look 
backward ; where was ever the place, what was ever 
the time, in which thou didst not sin ? Look inward ; 
what part or power canst thou find in soul or body but 
it is poisoned with sin ? what duty dost thou ever per 



Chap. VI.] DIRECTI0N3 TO THE UNCONVERTED. Ill 

form, into which this poison is not shed ? O how great 
is the sum of thy debts, who hast been all thy life run- 
ning upon trust, and never didst or canst pay off one 
penny ! Look over the sin of thy nature, and all its 
cursed brood, the sins of thy life. Call to mind thy 
omissions and commissions ; the sins of thy thoughts, 
words, and actions ; the sins of thy youth, and the sins 
of thy riper years. Be not like a desperate bankrupt, 
that is afraid to look over his books. Read the records 
of conscience carefully. These books must be opened 
sooner or later. 

Meditate on the aggravations of thy sins, as they are 
the grand enemies of the God of thy life, and of the 
life of thy soul : in a word, they are the public enemies 
of all mankind. How do David, Ezra, Daniel, and the 
good Levites, aggravate their sins, from the considera- 
tion of their rebellion against God, their opposition to 
his good and righteous laws, and the mercies and 
warnings they were committed against ! O the work 
that sin has made in the world ! This is the enemy 
that has brought in death ; that has robbed and en- 
slaved man ; that has done the work of the devil, and 
digged hell. This is the enemy that has turned the 
world upside down, and sown dissensions between man 
and the creatures, betwixt man and man, yea, between 
man and himself, setting the animal part against the 
rational, the will against the judgment, lust against 
conscience ; yea, worst of all, between God and man, 
making the sinner both hateful to God and the hater 
of himself. O man! how canst thou make so light of 
sin ? This is the traitor that thirsted for the blood ot 
the Son of God, that sold him, that mocked him, that 
scourged him, that spit in his face, that tore his hands, 
that pierced his side, that pressed his soul, that man- 



112 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. VI. 

gled his body, that never left till he had bound him, 
condemned him, nailed him, crucified him, and put 
him to an open shame. This is that deadly poison, so 
powerful of operation that one drop of it, shed on the 
root of mankind, has corrupted, spoiled, poisoned, and 
ruined his whole race. This the bloody executioner 
that has killed the prophets, burnt the martyrs, mur- 
dered all the apostles, all the patriarchs, all the kings 
and potentates ; that has destroyed cities, swallowed 
empires, butchered and devoured whole nations. What- 
ever was the weapon it was done by, it was sin that 
caused the execution. Dost thou yet think it but a 
small thing ? If Adam and all his children could be 
dug out of their graves, and their bodies piled up to 
heaven, and an inquest were made what matchless 
murderer were guilty of all this blood ; it would be all 
found in sin. Study the nature of sin, till thy heart 
incline to fear and loathe it ; and meditate on the ag- 
gravations of thy particular sins, how thou hast sinned 
against all God's warnings, against thy own prayers, 
against mercies, against corrections, against clearest 
light, against freest love, against thine own resolutions, 
against promises, vows, and covenants of better obe- 
dience. Charge thy heart home with these things till 
it blush for shame, and be brought out of all good 
opinion of itself. 

Meditate on the desert of sin. It crieth up to Hea- 
ven ; it calls for vengeance. Its due wages are death 
and damnation ; it draws the curse of God upon the 
soul and body. The least sinful word or thought lays 
thee under the infinite wrath of God. O what a load 
of wrath, what a weight of curses, what treasures of 
vengeance, have all the millions of thy sins deserved ! 
O judge thyself that the Lord may not judge thee. 



Chap. VL] directions to the unconverted. 113 

Meditate on the deformity and defilement of sin. It 
is as black as hell, the very image and likeness of the 
devil drawn upon the soul. 1 John, 3 : 8, 10. It would 
affright thee to see thyself in the hateful deformity of 
thy nature. There is no mire so unclean, no plague or 
leprosy so noisome as sin, in which thou art plunged 
and covered with its odious filth, whereby thou art 
rendered more displeasing to the pure and holy nature 
of the glorious God than the most filthy object, com- 
posed of whatever is hateful to all thy senses, can be 
to thee. Couldst thou take up a toad into thy bosom ? 
Couldst thou cherish it, and take delight in it ? Why, 
thou art as contrary to the pure and perfect holiness 
of the divine nature, and as loathsome as that is to 
thee, till thou art purified by the blood of Jesus and 
the power of renewing grace. 

Above all other sins, fix the eye of consideration on 
these two. 1. The sin of thy heart, it is to little 
purpose to lop off the branches while the root of cor- 
ruption remains untouched. In vain do me\i lave out 
the streams, when the fountain is running that fills up 
all again. Let the axe of thy repentance (with Da- 
vid's) go to the root of sin. Study how deep, how 
close, how permanent is thy natural pollution, how 
universal it is, till thou dost cry out, with Paul, upon 
thy body as dead. 

Look into all thy parts and powers, and see what 
unclean vessels, what sinks they are become. The 
heart is never soundly broken till thoroughly con- 
vinced of the heinousness of its original and deep- 
rooted depravity. Here fix thy thoughts ; this is that 
which makes thee backward to all good, and prone to 
all evil. That sheds blindness, pride, prejudice, and 
unbelief into thy mind ; enmity inconstancy, and ob- 
10* 



114 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap VI. 

stinacy into thy will ; inordinate heats and colds into 
thy affections ; insensibleness and unfaithfulness into 
thy conscience ; slipperiness into thy memory ; and, in 
a word, hath put every wheel of the soul out of order, 
and made it, of a habitation of holiness, to become a 
very hell of iniquity. This is what hath defiled and 
perverted all thy members, and turned them into wea- 
pons of unrighteousness, and servants of sin ; that hath 
filled the head with carnal and corrupt designs ; the 
hand with sinful practices ; the eyes with wandering 
and wantonness ; the tongue with deadly poison ; that 
hath opened the ears to tales, flattery, and filthy com- 
munication, and shut them against the instructions of 
life; and hath rendered thy heart the cursed source of 
all deadly imaginations, so that it poureth out its wick- 
edness without ceasing even as naturally as a fountain 
doth pour forth its waters, or the raging sea doth cast 
forth mire and dirt. And wilt thou yet be in love with 
thyself, and tell us any longer of thy good heart ? O 
never leave meditating on the desperate contagion, the 
original corruption of thy heart, till, with Ephraim, 
thou bemoan thyself; and with the deepest shame and 
sorrow smite on thy breast, as the Publican; and, 
with Job, abhor thyself, and repent in dust and ashes. 
2. The particular evil that thou art most addicted to: 
find out all its aggravations, set home upon thy heart 
all God's threats against it ; repentance drives before it 
the whole herd, but especially sticks the arrow in the 
beloved sin, and singles this out above the rest, to run 
it down. O labor to make this sin odious to thy soul, 
and double thy guard and resolutions against it, be- 
cause this doth most dishonor God and endanger thee. 
VIII. Str've to affect thy heart with a deep sense of 
thy present misery. Read over the foregoing chapter 



Chap. VI.] DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 115 

again and again, and get it out of the book into thy 
heart. Remember, when thou liest down, that, for 
aught thou knowest, thou mayest awake in flames; and 
when thou risest up, that by the next night thou may- 
est make thy bed in hell. Is it a just matter to live in 
such a fearful case, to stand tottering on the brink of 
the bottomless pit ; and to live at the mercy of every 
disease, that, if it but fall upon thee, will send thee 
forthwith into the burnings ? Suppose thou sawest a 
condemned wretch hanging over Nebuchadnezzar's 
burning fiery furnace by nothing but a thread which 
was ready to break every moment, would not thy 
heart tremble for such a one ? Why, thou art the man : 
this is thy very case, O man, woman, that readest this, 
if thou be yet unconverted. What if the thread of thy 
life should break, (why, thou knowest not but it may 
be the next night, yea, the next moment,) where 
wouldst thou be then? Whither wouldst thou drop? 
Verily, upon the breaking of this thread, thou fallest 
into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, where 
thou must lie scalding and burning in a fiery ocean 
while God hath a being, if thou die in thy present 
case. x\nd doth not thy soul tremble as thou readest ? * 
Do not thy tears bedew the paper, and thy heart throb 
in thy bosom ? Dost thou not yet begin to smite on thy 
breast, and bethink thyself what need thou hast of a 
change ? O what is thy heart made of? Hast thou 
not only lost all regard to God, but hast thou lost all 
love and pity to thyself? 

O study thy misery till thy heart cry out for Christ 
as earnestly as ever a drowning man did for a boat, or 
the wounded for a surgeon. Men must come to see 
the danger and feel the smart of their deadly sores and 
sickness, or else Christ will be to them a physician of 



tlG DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. VI. 

no value. Then the manslayer hastens to the city of 
refuge when pursued by the avenger of blood. Men 
must be even forced and driven out of themselves, or 
else they will not come to Christ. It was distress and 
extremity that made the prodigal think of returning. 
While Laodicea thinks herself rich, increased in goods, 
in need of nothing, there is little hope. She must be 
deeply convinced of her wretchedness, blindness, po- 
verty, and nakedness, before she will come to Christ 
for his gold, raiment, and eye-salve. Therefore hold 
the eyes of conscience open, amplify thy misery as 
much as possible, do not flee the sight of it, for fear it 
should fill thee with terror. The sense of thy misery 
is but as it were the suppuration of the wound, which 
is necessary to the cure. Better now to fear the tor- 
ments that abide thee, than to feel them hereafter. 

IX. Settle it upon thy heart that thou must look out 
of thyself and away from thy own doings for help. 

Never think thy praying, reading, hearing, confess- 
ing, or amending will do the cure ; these must be at- 
tended to, but thou art undone if thou rest in them; 
thou art a last man if thou hope to escape drowning 
on any other plank but Jesus Christ. Thou must un- 
learn thyself, and renounce thine own wisdom, thine 
own righteousness, thine own strength, and throw thy- 
self wholly upon Christ, as a man that swims casts 
himself upon the water, or else thou canst not escape 
While men trust in themselves, and establish their own 
righteousness, and have confidence in the flesh, they 
will not come savingly to Christ. Thou must know 
thy gain to be but loss and dung, thy strength but 
weakness, thy righteousness rags and rottenness, be- 
fore there will be an effectual closure between Christ 
and thee. Can the lifeless corpse shake off its grave- 



Chap. VI.] DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 117 

clothes, and loose the bands of death ? Then mayest 
thou recover thyself, who art dead in trespasses and 
sins, and under an impossibility of serving thy Maker 
acceptably in this condition. Therefore, when thou 
goest to pray or meditate, or to do any of the duties to 
which thou art here directed, go out of thyself, call in 
the help of the Spirit, as despairing to do any thing 
pleasing to God in thine own strength; yet neglect 
not duty, put thyself in the way of the Spirit. While 
the eunuch was reading, then the Holy Ghost did send 
Philip to him. When the disciples were praying, when 
Cornelius and his friends were hearing, then the Holv 
Ghost fell upon them and filled them all. 

X. Forthwith renounce all thy sins. 

If, on the contrary, thou yield thyself to the practice 
of any sin, thou art undone. In vain dost thou hope 
for life by Christ, except thou depart from iniquity. 
Forsake thy sins, or else thou canst not find mercy. 
Thou canst not be married to Christ except divorced 
from sin. Give up the traitor, or you can have no 
peace in heaven. Cast the head of Sheba over the 
wall : keep not Delilah in thy lap. Thou must part 
with thy sins or with thy soul; spare but one sin and 
God will not spare thee. Never make excuses ; thy 
sins must die, or thou must die for them. If thou al- 
low of one sin, though but a little, a secret one — though 
thou mayest plead necessity, and have a hundred shifts 
and excuses for it, the life of thy soul must go for the 
life of that sin. And will it not be dearly bought? 

O sinner 1 hear and consider-: if thou wilt part with 
thy sins God will give thee his Christ. Is not this a 
fair exchange 1 I testify unto you this day, that if you 
perish, it is not because there was never a Savior pro- 
vided nor life tendered, but because you prefer (with 



118 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. VI. 

the Jew) the murderer before the Savior, sin before 
Christ, "and love darkness rather than light." Search 
thy heart therefore with candles, as the Jews did their 
houses for leaven before the passover. Labor to find 
out thy sins ; enter into thy closet, and consider, What 
evil have I lived in ? what duty have I neglected to- 
ward God ? what sin have I lived in against my broth- 
er ? And now strike the darts through the heart of 
thy sin, as Joab did through Absalom's. Never stand 
looking upon thy sins, nor rolling the morsel under 
thy tongue, but cast it out as poison, with fear and de- 
testation. Alas I what will thy sins do for thee, that 
thou shouldst hesitate to part with them ? They will 
flatter thee, but they will undo thee and poison thee 
while they please thee, and arm the justice and wrath 
of the infinite God against thee. They will open hell 
for thee, and pile up fuel to burn thee. Behold the 
gibbet that they have prepared for thee ! O serve them 
like Haman, and do upon them the execution they 
would else have done upon thee. Away with them, 
crucify them, and let Christ only be Lord over thee. 

XI. Make a solemn choice of God for thy portion 
and blessedness. 

With all possible devotion and veneration avouch 
the Lord for thy God : set the world, with all its-glory, 
and paint, and gallantry, with all its pleasures and 
promotions, on the one hand ; and set God with all 
his infinite excellences and perfections on the other ; 
and see that thou do deliberately make thy choice. 
Take up thy rest in God. Sit thee down under his 
shadow. Let his promises and perfections turn the 
scale against all the world. Settle it upon thy heart, 
that the Lord is an all-sufficient portion, that thou 
canst not be miserable while thou hast God to live upon. 



Chap. VI. J DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 119 

Take him for thy shield and exceeding great reward. 
God alone is more than all the world ; content thyself 
with him. Let others possess the preferments and 
glory of the world ; place thou thy happiness in the 
favor of God, and in the light of his countenance. 

Poor sinner ! thou hast fallen off from God, and hast 
engaged his power and wrath against thee; yet know, 
that of his abundant grace he doth offer to be thy God 
again in Christ. What say est thou, man ? wilt thou 
Have the Lord for thy God? Why, take this counsel, 
and thou shalt have him ; come to him by his Christ, 
renounce the idols of thy pleasures, gain, and reputa- 
tion, let these be pulled out of their throne, and set 
God's interest uppermost in thy heart. Take him as 
God, to be chief in thy affections, estimations, and 
purposes ; for he will not endure to have any set above 
him. In a word, thou must take him in all his per- 
sonal relations and in all his essential perfections. 

1. In all his personal relations. God the Father 
must be taken for thy father. O come to him with 
the prodigal ! " Father, I have sinned against heaven, 
and in thy sight, and am not worthy to be called thy 
son;" but since, of thy wonderful mercy, thou art 
pleased to take me, that am of myself most vile, even 
a beast and no man before thee, to be a child, I so- 
lemnly take thee for my Father, commend myself to 
thy care, and trust to thy providence, and cast my 
burden on thy shoulders. I depend on thy provision, 
and submit to thy corrections, and trust under the 
shadow of thy wings, and hide in thy chambers, and 
flee to thy name. I renounce all confidence in my- 
self; I repose my confidence in thee; I declare my 
engagement with thee ; I will be for thee, and not for 
another. Again, God the Son must be taken for thy 



120 DIRECTIONS TO THE CNCONVERTED. ( Chap. VI 

Savior, thy Redeemer, and thy righteousness. He 
must be accepted, as the only way to the Father, and 
the only means of life. O then put off the raiment of 
thy captivity, put on the wedding garment, and go and 
marry thyself to Christ. ' Lord, I am thine, and all 
I have, my body, soul, and estate. I give my heart to 
thee ; I will be thine undividedly, thine everlastingly. 
I will set thy name on all I have, and use it only as 
thy goods, during thy leave, resigning ail to thee. I 
will have no king but thee to reign over me. Other 
lords have had the dominion over me : but now I will 
make mention of thy name only, and do here take an 
oath of fealty to thee, promising to serve and fear thee 
above all competitors. I disavow mine own right- 
eousness, and despair of ever being pardoned and 
saved for my own duties or graces, and lean solely on 
thy all-suhicient sacrifice and intercession for pardon, 
and life, and acceptance before God. I take thee for 
my only guide and instructor, resolving to be directed 
by thee, and to wait for thy counsel ; for thine shall 
be the casting voice with me.' Lastly, God the Spirit 
must be taken for thy sanctiHer, for thy advocate, thy 
counsellor, thy comforter, the teacher of thy ignorance, 
the pledge and earnest of thy inheritance. " Awake 
thou north wind, and come, thou south, and blow upon 
my garden." " Come, thou Spirit of the Most High ; 
here is a temple for thee ; here do thou rest for ever ; 
dwell here; lo, I give up the possession to thee, full 
possession ; I send thee the keys of my heart, that ail 
may be thine. I give up the use of all to thee, that 
every faculty and every member may be thy instru- 
ment to work righteousness and do the will of my Fa- 
ther w T ho is in heaven 
2. In all his essential perfections Consider how the 



Chap. VI.l DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 121 

Lord hath revealed himself to you in his word, Will 
you take him as such a God ? O, sinner, here is the 
most blessed news that ever came to the sons of men : 
" The Lord will be thy God," if thou wilt but close 
with him in his excellencies. Wilt thou have the mer- 
ciful, the gracious, the sin-pardoning God to be thy 
God ? "O yes," saith the sinner, "I am undone else." 
But the Father tells thee, I am the holy and sin-hating 
God ; if thou wilt be owned as one of my people, thou 
must be holy — holy in heart, holy in life ; thou must 
put away all thy iniquities, be they ever so dear, ever 
vso natural, ever so necessary to the maintaining thy 
fleshly interest. -Unless thou wilt be at enmity with 
sin, I cannot be thy God. Cast out the leaven. "Put 
away the evil of thy doings ; cease to do evil ; learn 
to do well ;" else I can have nothing to do with thee. 
Bring forth mine enemies, or there is no peace to be 
had with me. What doth thine heart answer? "Lord, 
I desire to have thee as such a God ; I desire to be ho- 
ly as thou art holy, and to be made partaker of thy 
holiness. I love thee, not only for thy goodness and 
mercy, but for thy holiness and purity. I take thy ho- 
liness for my happiness : O be to me a fountain of ho- 
liness ; set on me the stamp and impress of thy holi- 
ness: I will thankfully part with all my sins at thy 
command. My wilful sins I do forthwith forsake; and 
for mine infirmities that cleave unto me, though I 
would be rid of them, I will strive against them con- 
tinually: I detest them, and will pray against them, 
and never let them have quiet rest in my soul." Be- 
loved, whoever of you will thus accept of the Lord for 
his God, shall have him. 

Again, he tells you, "I am the all-sufficient God." 
Will you lay all at my feet, give up all to my disposal, 

1 1 Alarm. 



J 22 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. | Chap. VJL 

and take me for your only portion ? Will you own 
and honor my all-sufficiency ? Will you take me as 
your happiness and treasure, your hope and bliss ? I 
am a sun and a shield all in one ; will you have me 
for your all ? Now what dost thou say to this ? Doth 
thy soul long for the onions and flesh-pots of Egypt ? 
Art thou loth to change thy earthly happiness for a 
portion in God ? and though thou wouldst be glad to 
have God and the world too, yet canst thou not think 
of having him, and nothing but him ; but hadst rather 
take up with the earth below, if God would but let 
thee keep it as long as thou wouldst? This is a fear- 
ful sign. But now, if thou art willing to sell all for 
the pearl of great price; if thine heart answer, "Lord, 
I desire no other portion but thee ; take the corn, and 
the wine, and the oil whoso will, so I may have the 
light of thy countenance ; I fix upon thee for my hap- 
piness; I gladly venture myself on thee, and trust my- 
self with thee ; I set my hope in thee ; I take up my 
rest with thee ; let me hear thee say, I am thy God, thy 
salvation, and I have enough, all I wish for; I will 
make no terms with thee but for thyself; let me but 
have thee sure ; let me be able to make my claim and 
see my title to thyself; and for other things, I leave 
them to thee ; give me more or less, any thing or no- 
thing, I will be satisfied in my God." Take him thus, 
and he is thy own. 

Again, he tells you, I am the sovereign Lord ; if you 
will have me for your God you must give me the 
supremacy. 1 will not be an underling ; you must not 
make me a second to sin or any worldly interest. If 
you will be my people I must have the rule over you ; 
you must not live at your own choice. Will you come 
Hinder my yoke? Will you bow to my government 7 



Chap. VI.J DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED 1 . 123 

Will you submit to my discipline, to my word, to my 
rod ? Sinner, what sayest thou to this ? "Lord, I had 
rather be at thy command than live at my own will; I 
had rather have thy will to be done than mine ; I ap- 
prove of and consent to thy laws, and account it my 
privilege to lie under them. And though the flesh re- 
bel, and often break its bounds, I have resolved to take 
no other Lord but thee. I willingly take the oath of 
thy supremacy, and acknowledge thee for my Sove- 
reign, and resolve all my days to pay the tribute of 
worship, obedience, love and service to thee, and to 
live to thee to the end of my life." This is a right 
acceptance of Go3. 

To be short, he tells you, I am the true and faithful 
God. If you will have me for your God you must be 
content to trust me. Will you venture yourselves upon 
my word, and depend on my faithfulness, and take my 
bond for your security ? Will you be content to follow 
me in poverty, and reproach, and affliction here ; and 
to see much going out and little coming in ; and to tarry 
till the next world for your preferment? I deal much 
upon trust. Will you be content to labor and suffer, 
and to tarry for your returns till the resurrection of 
the just? My promise will not always be instantly 
fulfilled; will you have the patience to wait? Now, 
what say you to this ? Will you have this God for 
your God ? Will you be content to live by faith, and 
trust hin\ for an unseen happiness, an unseen heaven, 
an unseeu glory? Do your hearts answer, " Lord, we 
will venture ourselves upon thee; we commit our- 
selves to thee; we cast ourselves upon thee; we know 
whom we have trusted; we are willing to take thy 
word; we will prefer thy promises before our own 
possessions, and the hopes of heaven before all the en- 



124 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. ( Chap. VI. 

joyments of the earth ; we will do thy pleasure— what 
thou wilt here, so that we may have but thy faithful 
promise for heaven hereafter." If you can in truth, 
and upon deliberation, thus accept of God, he will be 
yours. Thus there must be, in a right conversion to 
God, a closing with him suitable to his excellences. 
But when men close with his mercy, but yet love sin, 
hating holiness and purity ; or will take him for their 
benefactor, but not for their sovereign; or for their 
patron, and not for their portion ; this is no thorough 
and sound conversion. 

XII. Accept of the Lord Jesus in all his offices, as 
thine. 

Upon these terms Christ may be had. Sinner, thou 
hast undone, thyself, and art plunged into the ditch of 
most deplorable misery, out of which thou art never 
able to climb up ; but Jesus Christ is able and ready to 
help thee, and he freely tenders himself to thee. Be 
thy sins ever so many, ever so great, or of ever so long 
continuance, yet thou shalt be most certainly pardoned 
and saved, if thou dost not wretchedly neglect the of- 
fer that in the name of God is here made to thee. 
The Lord Jesus calleth thee to look to him and be 
saved. " Come unto him, and he will in no wise cast thee 
out." Yea, he beseecheth thee to be reconciled. He 
crieth in the streets ; he knocketh at thy door ; he in- 
viteth thee to accept of him, and live with him. If 
thou diest, it is because thou wouldst not come to him 
for life. 

Now accept of an offered Christ, and thou art made 
for ever ; now give thy consent to him, and the match 
is made ; all the world cannot hinder it. Do not stand 
off because of thy unworthiness. Man, I tell thee, no- 
thing in the world can undo thee but thy unwilling- 



Chap. VI.J DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 125 

ness. Speak, man ; art thou desirous of the honor 1 
Wilt thou have Christ in all his relations to be thine 5 
thy king, thy priest, thy prophet? Wilt thou have him 
with all the inconveniences? Take not Christ with- 
out consideration, but sit down first and count the cost, 
Wilt thou lay all at his feet ? Wilt thou be content to 
run all hazards with him ? Wilt thou take thy lot with 
him, fall where it will ? Wilt thou "deny thyself, take 
up thy cross and follow him ?" Art thou deliberately, 
understanding^, freely determined to cleave to him, 
in all times and conditions ? If so, thou shalt never 
perish, but art passed from death unto life. Here lies 
the main point of thy salvation, that thou be found in 
thy covenant-closure with Jesus Christ ; and therefore, 
if thou love thyself, see that thou be faithful to God 
and thy soul here. 

XIII. Resign up all thy powers and faculties, and 
thy whole interest to be his. 

" They gave their own selves unto the Lord." " Pre- 
sent your bodies a living sacrifice." The Lord seeks 
not yours, but you ; resign therefore thy body, with all 
its members, to him ; and thy soul, with all its powers, 
that he may be glorified in thy body and in thy spirit, 
which are his. 

In a right closing with Christ all thy faculties give 
themselves up to him. Thy judgment says, " Lord, 
thou art worthy of all acceptation, chief of ten thou- 
sand : happy is the man that finds thee. All the things 
that are to be desired are not to be compared with 
thee." Prov. 3 : 13-15. The understanding lays aside 
its corrupt reasonings and cavils, and its prejudices 
against Christ and his ways. It is now past question- 
ing, and carries it for Christ against all the world. It 
concludes it is " good to be here," and sees such a trea- 



126 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. VI » 

sure in this field, such a value in this pearl, as is worth 
all. Matt. 13 : 44-46. " O ! here is the richest bargain 
that ever I made; here is the richest prize that ever 
man was offered ; here is the most sovereign remedy 
that ever mercy prepared ; he is worthy of my esteem, 
worthy of my choice, worthy of my love, worthy to be 
embraced, adored, admired, for evermore. Rev. 5 : 12. 
I approve of his articles : his terms are righteous and 
reasonable, full of equity and mercy." Again, the will 
resigns. It stands no longer wavering, nor wishing, 
but is peremptorily determined : " Lord, thy love hath 
overcome me, thou hast won me, and thou shalt have 
me. Come in, Lord ; to thee I freely open ; I consent to 
be saved in thine own way. Thou shalt have any 
thing — nay, have all, let me have but thee." The me- 
mory gives up to Christ : " Lord, here is a storehouse 
for thee ; out with this trash ; lay in the treasure ; let 
me be a repository of thy truth, thy promises, thy pro- 
vidences." The conscience comes in : " Lord, I will 
ever side with thee : I will be thy faithful registrar : 
I will warn when the sinner is tempted, and smite 
when thou art offended ; I will witness for thee, and 
judge for thee, and guide into thy ways, and will never 
let sin have quiet in this soul." The affections also 
come in to Christ : O, saith Love, " I am sick for thee : 
O, saith Desire, now I have my longing ; here is the 
satisfaction I sought for ; here is the desire of nations ; 
here is bread for me, and balm for me : all that I want." 
Fear bows the knee with awe and veneration : " Wel- 
come, Lord, to thee will I pay my homage : thy word 
and rod shall command my motions ; thee will I re- 
verence and adore ; before thee will I fall down and 
worship." Grief likewise puts in: "Lord, thy dis- 
pleasure and thy dishonor thy people's calamities and 



Chap. VI.J DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 12? 

my own iniquities shall be what shall set me at work. 
I will mourn when thou art offended ; I will weep when 
thy cause is wounded." Anger likewise comes in for 
Christ : " Lord, nothing so enrages me as my folly 
against thee, that I should be so besotted and bewitch- 
ed as to hearken to the flatteries of sin and the temp- 
tations of Satan against thee." Hatred too will side 
with Christ : " I protest mortal enmity with thine en- 
emies, that I never will be a friend to thy foes ; I vow 
an eternal quarrel with every sin : I will give no quar- 
ter ; I will make no peace." Thus let all thy powers 
yield to Jesus Christ. 

Again, thou must give up thy whole interest to 
him. If there be any thing that thou keepest back 
from Christ, it will be thy undoing. Luke, 14 : 33. 
Unless thou wilt forsake all, (in preparation and re- 
solution of thy heart,) thou canst not be his disciple. 
Thou must hate father and mother, yea, and thine 
own life also, in comparison with him, and as far 
as it stands in competition with him. In a word, 
thou must give him thyself, and all that thou hast, 
without reservation, or else thou canst have no part 
in him. 

XIV. " Make choice of the laws of Christ as the 
rule of thy words, thoughts, and actions." This is the 
true convert's choice. But here remember these three 
rules : — 1. You must choose them all, there is no get- 
ting to heaven by a partial obedience. None may 
think it enough to take up with the cheap and easy 
part of religion, and let alone the duties that are costly 
and self-denying, and oppose the interests of the flesh ; 
you must take all or none. A sincere convert, though 
he makes most conscience of the greatest sins and 
weightiest duties, yet he makes true conscience of little 



128 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. VI 

sins and of all duties. 2. You must choose Christ's 
laws for all times, for prosperity and adversity, whether 
it rain or shine. A true convert is resolved in his 
course ; he will stand to his choice, and will not set his 
back to the wind, and be of the religion of the times. 
" I have stuck to thy testimonies ; I have inclined my 
heart to perform thy statutes always, even to the end. 
Thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage for ever. I 
will have respect to thy statutes continually," 3. This 
must not be done carelessly, but deliberately and un- 
derstandingly. The disobedient son said, "I go, sir; 
but he went not." How fairly did they promise, " All 
that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee we will 
do it !" And it is likely they spake as they meant. 
But when it came to the trial it was found that there 
was not such a heart in them as to do what they had 
promised. 

If you would be sincere in closing with the laws and 
the ways of Christ, study the meaning, and breadth, 
and extent of them. Remember that they are spiritual ; 
they reach the very thoughts and inclinations of the 
heart ; so that, if you will walk by this rule, your very 
thoughts and inward motions must be under govern- 
ment. Again, they are very strict and self-denying, 
quite contrary to the grain of your natural inclinations. 
You must take the strait gate, the narrow way, and be 
content to have the flesh curbed from the liberty it de- 
sires. In a word, they are very large, for " thy com- 
mandments are exceeding broad." 

Rest not in generals, for there is much deceit in 
them, but bring down thine heart to the particular 
commands of Christ. Those Jews, in the prophet, 
seemed as well resolved as any in the world, and called 
God to witness that they meant as they said : but they 



Chap. VI. J DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 329 

stuck in generals ; when God's command crosses their 
inclination, they will not obey. Art thou resolved, in 
the strength of Christ, to set upon the conscientious 
practice of every duty that thou findest to be there 
required of thee, and to set against every sin that 
thou findest there forbidden ? This is the way to be 
sound ki God's statutes, that thou mayest never be 
ashamed. 

Observe the special duties that thy heart is most 
against, and the special sins that it is most inclined to, 
and see whether it be truly resolved to perform the 
one and forego the other. What sayest thou to thy 
bosom-sin, thy gainful sin 1 What sayest thou to cost- 
ly, hazardous, and flesh-displeasing duties? If thou 
haltest here, and dost not resolve (by the grace of 
God) to cross the flesh and be in earnest, thou art 
unsound. 

XV. " Let all this be completed .in a solemn cove- 
nant between God and thy soul." For thy better help 
therein, take these few directions. 

Set apart some time, more than once, to be spent in 
secret before the Lord — in seeking earnestly his special 
assistance and gracious acceptance of thee — in search- 
ing thy heart, whether thou art sincerely willing to 
forsake all thy sins, and to resign up thyself, body and 
soul, unto God and his service ; to serve him in holi- 
ness and righteousness all the days of thy life. Com- 
pose thy spirit into the most serious frame possible, 
suitable to a transaction of so high importance. Lay 
hold on the convenant of God, and rely on his promise 
of giving grace and strength, whereby thou mayest be 
enabled to perform thy promise. Trust not to thine 
own strength, to the strength of thine own resolutions : 
but take hold on his strength. 



ISO A SHORT SOLILOQUY. [diap. VT. 

XVI. Take heed of delaying thy conversion, but 
make a speedy, an immediate surrender of thy heart 
to God. " I made haste, and delayed not." Remember 
and tremble at the sad instance of the foolish virgins, 
that came not till the " door of mercy was shut;" and 
of a convinced Felix, who put off Paul to another sea- 
son ; and we never find that he had such another sea- 
son. O come in while it is called to-day, lest thou 
shouldst be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin ; 
lest the day of grace should be over, and the things 
which belong to thy peace should be c: hidden from 
thine eyes." Now mercy is inviting thee; now Christ 
is waiting to be gracious to thee, and the Spirit of God 
is striving with thee; now ministers are calling; now 
conscience is stirring : now the market is open, and 
oil may be had, thou hast opportunity for buying. 
Now Christ is to be had, if accepted. strike in with 
the offers of grace : now or never ! If thou make light 
of this offer, God may swear in his wrath, thou shall 
not taste of his supper. 

A SHORT SOLILOQUY. 

What meanest thou, my soul, to go on thus? ar< 
thou in league with hell ? hast thou made a covenant 
with death ? art thou in love with thy misery ? " Is it 
good for thee to be here ?" Alas ! what shall I do ? shall 
I go on in my sinful ways ? Why then, certain damna- 
tion will be my end. And shall I be so besotted as to 
go and sell my soul to the flames for a little ale and a 
little ease, for a little pleasure, or gain, or satisfaction 
to my flesh ? Shall I linger any longer in this wretched 
state? No ; if I tarry here I shall die. W r hat then? 
Is there no help, no hope? None, except 1 turn. Why, 



Chap. Vl.J A SHORT SOLILOQUY. 131 

but is there any remedy for such woful misery? any 
mercy, after such provoking iniquity? Yes, as sure as 
God's oath is true I shall have pardon and mercy yet, 
if immediately, and unfeignedly, and unreservedly 
I turn by Christ to him. 

Why, then, I thank thee upon my bended knees, O 
most merciful Jehovah ! that thy patience hath waited 
for me hitherto; for, hadst thou taken me away in this 
estate, I had perished for ever. And now I adore thy 
grace, and accept the offers of thy mercy : I renounce 
all my sins, and resolve by thy grace to set myself 
against them, and to folluw thee in holiness and 
righteousness all the days of my life. 

Who am I, Lord, that I should make any claim unto 
thee, or have any part or portion in thee, who am not 
worthy to lick up the dust of thy feet? yet, since thou 
boldest forth the golden sceptre, I am bold to come and 
touch. To despair, would be to disparage thy mercy; 
and to stand off when thou biddest me to come, would 
be at once to ruin myself and rebel against thee, under 
the pretence of humility. Therefore I bow my soul 
to thee, and with all possible thankfulness accept thee 
as mine, and give up myself to thee as thine. Thou 
shalt be Sovereign over me, " my King and my God :" 
thou shalt be on the throne, and all my powers shall 
bow to thee; they shall come and worship before thy 
feet. Thou shalt be my portion, O Lord, and I will 
rest in thee. 

Thou callest for my heart. O that it were any way 
fit for thine acceptance ! I am unworthy, O Lord, ever- 
lastingly unworthy to be thine; but since thou wilt 
have it so, I freely give up my heart to thee : take it : 
it is thine: O that it were better ! But, Lord, I put it 
into thine hand, who alone canst mend it : mold it 



132 A SHORT SOLILOCIUY. [Chap. VI 

after thine own heart ; make it as thou wouldst have it, 
holy, humble, heavenly, soft, tender, flexible j and write 
thy law upon it. 

11 Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly ;" enter in triumph- 
antly! take me up to thee for ever: I give up myself 
to thee ; I come to thee as the only way to the Father, 
as the only Mediator, the means ordained to bring me 
to God. I have destroyed myself, but in thee is my 
help ; save, Lord, or else I perish !" I come to thee 
worthy to die and to be damned. Never was the hire 
more due to the servant, never was penny more due to 
the laborer, than death and hell (my just wages) are 
due to me for my sins. But I flee to thy merits ; I 
trust alone to the value and virtue of thy sacrifice, and 
the prevalence of thy intercession. I submit to thy 
teaching ; I make choice of thy government. " Stand 
open, ye everlasting doors, that the King of glory may 
come in." 

O thou Spirit of the Most High, the comforter and 
sanctifier of thy chosen ! come in with all thy glorious 
train, all thy courtly attendants, thy fruits and graces ; 
let me be thine habitation ; I can give thee only what 
is thine own already ; but here, with the poor widow, 
I cast my two mites, my soul and my body, into thy 
treasury, fully resigning them up to thee, to be sancti- 
fied by thee, to be servants to thee. They shall be thy 
patients ; cure thou their malady. They shall be thy 
subjects; govern thou their motions. Too long have 
I served the world; too long have I hearkened to Sa- 
tan ; but now I renounce them all, and will be ruled 
by thy dictates and directions, and guided by thy 
counsel. 

O blessed Trinity! O glorious Unity! I deliver up 
myself to thee : receive me ; write thy name, Lord, 



Chap. VII.J MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. 133 

upon me, and upon all that I have, as thy property ; 
set thy mark upon me, upon every member of my bo- 
dy, and on every faculty of my soul. I have chosen 
thy precepts; thy law will I keep in mine eye, and 
study to follow. According to this rule do I resolve, 
through thy grace, to walk; after this law shall my 
whole man be governed ; and though I shall come 
short in all thy commandments, yet I will allow my- 
self in the breach of none. I know my flesh will 
hang back ; but I resolve, in the power of thy grace, 
to cleave to thee and thy holy ways, whatever it costs 
me. I am sure I cannot come off a loser by thee, and 
therefore I will be content with reproach, and difficul- 
ties, and hardships here; and will "deny myself, and 
take up my cross, and follow thee." Lord Jesus, thy 
yoke is easy, thy cross is welcome : as it is the way to 
thee, I lay aside all hopes of worldly happiness ; I will 
be content to tarry till I come to thee. Let me be poor, 
and low, and despised here, so I may but be admitted 
to live and reign with thee hereafter. Lord, thou hast 
my heart and hand to this agreement : be it as the laws 
of the Medes and Persians, never to be reversed. To 
this will I stand ; in this resolution, through grace, I 
will live and die; "I have sworn," and will perforin 
it, that " I will keep thy righteous judgments;" I have 
given my free consent ; I have made my everlasting 
choice: Lord Jesus, confirm the contract. Amen. 



CHAPTBH VI X. 

CONTAINING THE MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. 

Though what is already said of the "necessity of 
conversion," and of the "miseries of the unconverted," 

12 Alarui. 



134 MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. [Chap. VII. 

might be sufficient to induce any considerate mind to 
resolve upon a present turning unto God; yet, know- 
ing what a piece of desperate obstinacy and untracta- 
bleness the heart of man naturally is, and thinking it 
therefore possible, after all that I have said, some might 
still refuse their whole selves to the Lord, I have added 
the following motives. 

Lord, fail me not now, at my last attempts. If any 
soul hath read hitherto, and is yet untouched, now, 
Lord, fasten on him, and do thy work; now take him 
by the heart, overcome him, persuade him, till he say, 
Thou hast prevailed, for thou art stronger than I. 
Lord, didst not thou make me a fisher of men, and 
have I toiled all this while and caught nothing ? Alas ! 
that I should have spent my strength for naught ! and 
now I am casting my last; Lord Jesus, stand thou up- 
on the shore, and direct how and where I shall spread 
my net; and let me so enclose with arguments the 
souls I seek, that they may not be able to get out. 
Now, Lord, for a multitude of souls ! now for a full 
draught ! O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and 
strengthen me this once, O God. 

But I turn me unto you. 

Men and brethren, heaven and earth call upon you ; 
yea, hell itself preaches the doctrine of repentance un- 
to you ; the ministers of the churches labor for you. 
The angels of heaven wait for you, for your repenting 
and turning unto God. O sinner, why should the de- 
vils make merry with thee? why shouldst thou be a 
morsel for that devouring leviathan? why should har- 
pies and hell-hounds tear thee, and make a feast upon , 
thee ; and when they have got thee into the snare, and 
have fastened their talons in thee, laugh at thy de- 
struction, and deride thy misery, and sport themselves 



Chap. VII.J MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. 135 

with thy ruinous folly? This will be thy case, except 
thou turn. And were it not better thou shouldst be a 
joy to angels, than a laughing-stock and sport for de- 
vils? Verily, if thou wouldst but come in, the hea- 
venly hosts would take up their anthems and sing, 
"Glory be to God in the highest ;" the morning stars 
would sing together, and all the sons of God shout for 
joy, and celebrate this new creation as they did the 
first. Thy repentance would, as it were, make a holi- 
day in heaven, and the glorious spirits would rejoice, 
in that there is a new brother added to their society, 
another heir born to the Lord, and the lost son re- 
ceived safe and sound. The true penitent's tears are 
indeed the wine that maketh glad both God and man. 
If it be little that men and angels would rejoice at thy 
conversion, know thou that God himself would rejoice 
over thee, even with singing, and rest in his love. Ne- 
ver did Jacob with such joy weep over the neck of his 
Joseph, as thy heavenly Father would rejoice over thee 
upon thy coming to him. Look over the story of the 
prodigal. Methinks I see how the aged father lays 
aside his state and forgetteth his years; behold how 
he runneth! O the haste that mercy makes! the sin- 
ner makes not half that speed. Methinks I see how 
his bowels move, how his compassions yearn. How 
quick sighted is love! Methinks I hear the music at 
a distance. O the melody of the heavenly choristers! 
I cannot learn the song, Rev. 14 : 3, but methinks I 
overhear the burden, at which all the harmonious choir 
with one consent strike sweetly in, being none other 
than, " For this my son was dead, and is alive again ; 
was lost, and is found." I need not farther explain the 
parable: God is the father; Christ is the provision; his 
righteousness the robe ; his grace the ornaments ; mitt- 



138 MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. [Chap. VIL 

fsters, saints and angels the friends and servants; and 
thou that readest (if thou wilt but unfeignedly repent 
and turn) the welcome prodigal, the happy instance of 
this grace, and blessed subject of this joy and love I 
O rock ! O adamant ! — what ! not moved yet ! not yet 
resolved to turn forthwith and to close with mercy ! 
I will try thee yet once again ; if one were sent to thee 
from the dead, wouldst thou be persuaded? Why, 
hear the voice from the dead, from the damned, crying 
to thee that thou shouldst repent: "I pray thee that 
thou wouldst send him to my father's house, (for 1 
have five brethren,) that he may testify to them, lest 
they also come into this place of torment : if one went 
to them from the dead, they will repent." Hear, O 
man ! thy predecessors in impenitence preach to thee 
from the infernal world, from the flames, from the rack, 
that thou shouldst repent. O look but down into the 
bottomless pit; seest thou how the smoke of their tor- 
ment ascendeth for ever and ever ! What thinkest thou 
of those chains of darkness? Canst thou be content to 
burn ? Seest thou how the worm gnaweth, how the fire 
rageth ? What sayest thou to that gulf of perdition ? 
wilt thou take up thine habitation there ? O lay thine 
ear to the door of hell : nearest thou the curses and blas- 
phemies, the w r eepings and wailings, how they lament 
their follies and curse their day? How do they roar 
and gnash their teeth! how deep their groans! how 
inconceivable their miseries! if the shrieks of Korah, 
Dathan and Abiram were so terrible (when the earth 
clave asunder, and opened its mouth and swallowed 
them up, and all that appertained to them) that all.Is- 
rael fled at the cry of them, O how fearful would the 
cry be, if God should take off the covering from the 
mouth of hell, and let the cry of the damned ascend 



Chap. VII.] MOTIVES TO CONVERSION 137 

in all its terror among the children of men ! and of all 
their moans and miseries this is the piercing, killing 
emphasis and burden, "for ever! for ever i" 

Why, as God liveth that made thy soul, thou art but 
a few hours distant from all this, except thou "repent 
and be converted." 

0, I am even lost and swallowed up in the abun- 
dance of those arguments that I might suggest. If 
there be any point of wisdom in all the world, it is to 
repent and come in. If there be any thing righteous, 
any thing reasonable, this is it. If there be any thing 
in the world that may be called madness and folly, and 
any thing that may be counted sottish, absurd, brutish, 
and unreasonable, it is this, "to go on in thine uncon- 
verted state." Let me beg of thee, as thou wouldst 
not willingly destroy thyself, to sit down and weigh, 
beside what has been said, these following motives, 
and let conscience say if it be not most reasonable 
that thou shouldst " repent and turn." 

1. The God that made thee, most graciously invites 
thee. 

His most sweet and merciful nature invites thee. O 
the kindness of God, his boundless compassion, his ten- 
der mercies ! As the heavens are higher than the earth, 
so are his ways above our ways, and his thoughts above 
our thoughts. " He is full of compassion, and gracious, 
long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy." This is a 
great argument to persuade sinners to come in, "Turn 
unto the Lord your God ; for he is gracious and mer- 
ciful, slow to anger, of great kindness, and repenteth 
him of the evil." 

If God would not repent of the evil, it would be 
some discouragement against our repenting. If there 
12* 



138 MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. [Chap. VII 

were no hope of mercy, it would be no wonder that 
rebels should stand out; but never had subjects such 
a gracious prince, such pity, patience, and clemency 
to deal with, as you have. "Who is a God like unto 
thee, that pardoneth iniquity ?" Micah, 7:18. O sin- 
ners ! see what a God you have to deal with : if j^ou 
will but turn, "he will turn again, and have compas- 
sion on you ; he will subdue your iniquities, and cast 
all your sins into the depths of the sea." " Return un- 
to me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will return unto 
you." Sinners do not fail in that they have too high 
thoughts of God's mercies, but in that, 1, They over- 
look his justice. 2. They promise themselves mercy 
out of God's way. His mercy is beyond all imagina- 
tion ; great mercies, manifold mercies, Neh. 9 : 19, ten- 
der mercies, sure mercies, everlasting mercies ; and all 
is thy own, if thou wilt but turn. Art thou willing to 
come in? The Lord hath laid aside his terror and 
erected a throne of grace. He holds forth the golden 
sceptre: touch and live. Would a merciful man slay 
his enemy when prostrate at his feet, acknowledging 
his wrong, begging pardon, and offering to enter with 
him into a covenant of peace? Much less will the 
merciful God. Study his name. 

His soul-encouraging call and promises invite thee. 
Ah, what an earnest suitor is mercy to thee ! how lov- 
ingly, how instantly, it calleth after thee ! how earnest- 
ly it wooeth thee! "Return, thou backsliding Israel, 
saith the Lord, and I will not cause my anger to fall 
upon you ; for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will 
not keep anger for ever ; only acknowledge thine ini- 
quity. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; 
return, and I will heal thy backslidings. Thou hast 
played the harlot with many lovers; yet return untc 



Chap. VII.J MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. 139 

me, saith the Lord." "As I live, saith the Lord God, 
I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that 
he turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from 
your evil ways ; for why will ye die, O house of Is- 
rael ?" "If the wicked will turn from all his sins that 
he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do 
that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he 
shall not die. All the transgressions that he hath com- 
mitted they shall not be mentioned unto him ; in his 
righteousness that he hath done, he shall live. Repent, 
and turn you from all your transgressions : so iniquity 
shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your 
transgressions, and make you a new heart and a new 
spirit ; for why will ye die, O house of Israel ? for I 
have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith 
the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." 
O melting, gracious words! the voice of God, and 
not of a man ! This is not the manner of men. for 
the offended sovereign to sue to the offending traitor- 
ous rebel. O how doth mercy follow thee, and plead 
with thee ! Is not thy heart broken yet? O that "to- 
day you would hear his voice !" 

II. The doors of heaven are thrown open to thee, 
the everlasting gates are set wide for thee, and an abun- 
dant entrance into the kingdom of heaven is administer- 
ed to thee. 

Christ now addresses thee, and calls upon thee to 
arise and take possession of this good land. View the 
glory of the other world, as set forth in the map of 
the Gospel ; get thee up into Pisgah of the promises, 
and lift up thine eyes northward, and southward, and 
eastward, and westward, and see the good land that is 
beyond Jordan, and that goodly mountain ; behold the 






140 MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. [Chap. VII. 

Paradise of God, watered with the streams of glory. 
Arise and walk through the land, in the length of it, 
and in the breadth of it; for the land which thou seest, 
the Lord will give it to thee for ever, if thou wilt but 
return. Let me say to thee, as Paul to Agrippa, "Be- 
lievest thou the prophets?" If thou believest indeed, 
do but view what glorious things are spoken of the 
city of God, and know that all this is here tendered in 
the name of God to thee. As verily as God is true, it 
shall be for ever thine, if thou wilt but thoroughly turn> 
Behold the city of pure transparent gold, whose 
foundations are garnished with all manner of precious 
stones, whose gates are pearls, whose light is glory, 
whose temple is God. Believest thou this? if thou 
dost, art thou not worse than insane, that wilt not take 
possession when the gates are thrown open to thee, 
and thou art bid to enter? O ye sons of folly, will ye 
embrace the dunghill and refuse the kingdom? Be- 
hold, the Lord takes you up into the mountain, shows 
you the kingdom of heaven and all the glory thereof, 
and tells you, All this will I give you, if you will but 
return unto me ; if you will submit to mercy, accept 
my Son, and serve me in righteousness and holiness. 
" O fools, and slow of heart to believe !" Will you 
seek and serve the world, and neglect eternal glory ? 
What! not enter into Paradise when the flaming sword, 
which was once set to keep you out, is now used to 
drive you in ! But you will say I am uncharitable, to 
think you infidels and unbelievers. Why, what shall 
I think of you ? Either you are desperate unbelievers, 
that do not credit it, or insane, that you know and be- 
lieve the excellence and eternity of this glory, and yet 
do so fearfully neglect it. Surely you have either no 
faith or no reason, and I had almost said conscience 
shall tell you so before I leave you. 



Chap. VII. J MOTIVES TO CO-NVERSION. 141 

Do but attend to what is offered you : a blessed king- 
dom, a "kingdom of glory," a "kingdom of righteous- 
ness," a " kingdom of peace," and an " everlasting king- 
dom." Here thou shalt dwell, here thou shalt reign for 
ever, and the Lord shall seat thee on a throne of glory, 
and with his own hand shall set the royal diadem upon 
thine head, and give thee a crown — not of thorns, for 
there shall be no sinning nor suffering there — not of 
gold, (for this shall be viler than the dirt in that day,) 
but a "crown of life," a "crown of righteousness," a 
4 'crown of glory," yea, "thou shalt put on glory as a 
robe," and shalt "shine like the sun in the firmament, 
in the glory of thy Father." Look now upon thy 
worthless flesh. This very flesh, which is mere dust 
and ashes, shall be brighter than the stars. In short, 
Ihou shalt be made like unto the "angels of God," and 
"behold his face in righteousness." Look in now and 
tell me, Dost thou yet believe '? if not, conscience must 
pronounce thee an infidel; for it is the very "word of 
God " that I speak. 

But if thou sayest thou believest, let me next know 
thy resolution. Wilt thou embrace this for thy happi- 
ness? Wilt thou forego thy sinful gains, thy forbid- 
den pleasures? Wilt thou trample on the world's es- 
teem, and stop thy ears to its flatteries, and wrest thee 
out of its embraces ? Wilt thou be content to take up 
with reproach and poverty, if they lie in the way to 
heaven, and follow the Lord with humble self-denial, 
in a mortified and flesh-displeasing life? If so, all is 
thine, and that for ever. 

And is not the offer a fair one? Is it not just that 
he should be damned that will go on and perish, when 
all this may be had by taking it ? Wilt thou take God 
at his word ; wilt thou let go thy hold of the world, 



142 MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. [Chap. VII 

and rid thy hands of thy sins, and lay hold on eternal 
life? If not, let conscience tell thee whether thou 
art not insane, that thou shouldst neglect so happy a 
choice, by which thou mightest be made happy for 
ever. 

III. God will settle unspeakable privileges at present 
upon thee. 

Though the full of your blessedness shall be de- 
ferred till hereafter, yet God will give you no little 
things in hand. He will redeem you from your thral- 
dom. He will pluck you from the paw of the lion. 
The serpent shall bruise thy heel, but thou shalt bruise 
his head. He shall deliver you from this present evil 
world. Prosperity shall not destroy you; adversity 
shall not separate him and you. 

He will redeem you from the power of the grave, 
and make the king of terrors a messenger of peace to 
you. He will take out the curse from the cross, and 
make affliction the refining-pot, the fan, the medicine, 
to blow off the chaff, purify the metal, and cleanse the 
mind. He will save you from the arrest of the law, 
and turn the curse into a blessing to you. He hath the 
keys of hell and of death, and shutteth and no man 
openeth, and he will shut its mouth, as once he did the 
lions', that you shall not be hurt of the second death. 

Beside, he will not only save you from misery, but 
install you into unspeakable prerogatives. He will be- 
stow himself upon you ; he will be a friend and a fa- 
ther unto you. He will be a sun and a shield to you. 
In a word, he will be a God to you. And what can be 
said more 1 What may you expect that a God should 
do for you, and be to you ? that he will be, that he will 
do. She that marries a prince expects he should do 



Chap. VII. | MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. 143 

for her like a prince, that she may live in a suitable 
state, and have an answerable dowry : he that hath a 
king for his father or a friend, expects he should do foi 
him like a king. Alas ! the kings and monarchs of the 
earth, so much above you, are but like the painted but- 
terflies amongst the rest of their kind, or the fair co- 
lored palmer-worm amongst the rest of the worms, if 
compared with God. As he does infinitely exceed the 
glory and power of his glittering dust, so he will, be- 
yond all proportion, exceed in doing for his favorites 
whatever princes can do for theirs. He will "give you 
grace and glory, and withhold no good thing from 
you." He will take you for his sons and daughters, 
and make you heirs of his promises, and establish his 
everlasting covenant with you. He will justify you 
from all that law, conscience, and Satan can charge 
upon you. He will give you free access into his pre- 
sence, and accept your person, and receive your prayers. 
He will abide in you, and hold a constant and friendly 
communion with you. His ear shall be open, his door 
open, his store open, at all times to you. His blessing 
shall rest upon you, and he will make your enemies to 
serve you, and work out " all things for good unto 
you." 

IV. The terms of mercy are brought as low as pos- 
sible to you. God has stooped as low to sinners as 
with honor he can. He will not be an author of sin. 
nor stain the glory of his holiness: and how could he 
come lower than he has, unless he should do this? 

God does not impose any thing unreasonable or im- 
possible, as a condition of life, upon you. Two things 
were necessary to be done, according to the tenor of 
the first covenant. 1. That we should fully satisfy 



144 MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. [Chap. Vll 

the demands of justice for past offences. 2. That we 
should perform personally, perfectly, and perpetually 
the whole law for the time to come. By our sins we 
render salvation through either of these ways impossi- 
ble. But, behold God's gracious provision in both. 
He does not insist upon your satisfaction: he is con- 
tent to take of the Surety (and he of his own pro- 
viding too) what he might have exacted from you. 
"All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to 
himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the min- 
istry of reconciliation } to wit, that God was in Christ 
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their 
trespasses unto them ; and hath committed unto us the 
word of reconciliation." He declares himself to have 
received a ransom ; and that he expects nothing but 
that you should accept his Son, "who of God is made 
unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, 
and redemption;' 5 and he shall be righteousness and 
redemption to you; "who his own self bare our sins 
in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin, 
should live unto righteousness." If therefore you 
come in his Christ, and set your heart to please him, 
making this your chief concern, he will graciously ac- 
cept, and even reward you, though your obedience be 
not perfect. 

O consider the condescension of your God ; let me 
say to you, as Naaman's servants to him, "My father, 
if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, would 
you not have done it? How much rather when he 
says to thee, Wash and be clean!" If God had de- 
manded some terrible, some severe and rigorous thing 
s of you, to escape eternal damnation, would you not 
have done it? Suppose it had been to spend ail your 
days in sorrow in some howling wilderness, or 10 



Chap. VII. | MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. I40 

n ofFer the fruit of your bodies for the sin of your 
souls," would you not have thankfully accepted eter- 
nal redemption, though these had been the conditions? 
Nay, farther, if God should have told you that you 
should have burned in the fire for millions of ages, or 
been so long tormented in hell, would you not have 
gladly accepted it ? Alas ! all these are not so much 
as one grain of sand in the glass of eternity. If your 
offended Creator should have holden you but one year 
upon the rack, and then bidden you come and forsake 
j70ur sins, accept Christ, and serve him a few years in 
self-denial, or lie in this case for ever and ever ; do you 
think you should have hesitated at the offer, and dis- 
puted the terms, and have been unresolved whether you 
were to accept of the proposal ? O sinner, return and 
live; why shouldst thou die when life is to be had for 
taking, when mercy seems beholden to thee (as it were) 
to be saved? Couldst thou say, "Lord, I knew thee, 
that thou wast a hard man," even then thou would st 
have had no excuse ; but when the God of heaven has 
stooped so low, and condescended so far, if still thou 
shouldst stand off, who shall plead for thee? 

Object. Notwithstanding all the advantages of this 
new covenant, I am unable to repent and believe, and 
so comply with its conditions. 

Ans. Dare you thus charge your impenitency and 
unbelief upon God ? Your ability is sufficient to ren- 
der it your duty to repent without delay. But let the 
next consideration serve for a fuller answer. 

V. God doth offer all needed grace to enable you. 

"I have stretched out mine hand, and no man re- 
garded." What though you are plunged into the ditch 
of that misery from which you can never get out ? 

13 Alarm. 



146 MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. (Chap. Vll 

Christ offereth to help you out; he reacheth out his 
hand to you; and if you perish, it is for refusing his 
help. " Behold I stand at the doc r and knock ; if any 
man open to me I will come in." What though you 
are poor, and wretched, and blind, and naked ? Christ 
offereth a cure for your blindness, a covering for your 
nakedness, a remedy for your poverty ; he tenders you 
his righteousness, his grace : "I counsel thee to buy oi 
me gold, that thou mayest be rich ; and wh?te raiment, 
that thou mayest be clothed; and anoint thy eyes with 
eye-salve, that thou mayest see." Do you say, Thd 
condition is impossible; for I have not wherewith to 
buy. 2 You must know that this buying is "without 
money and without price." This buying is by beg- 
ging and seeking with your whole heart. God com- 
mandeth thee to know him, and to fear him. Dost 
thou say, Yea, but my mind is blinded, and my heart 
is hardened from his fear? I answer, God doth offer 
to enlighten thy mind, and to teach thee this fear that 
is presented to thy choice. So that now, if men live 
in ignorance and estrangement from the Lord, it is be- 
cause they will not understand and desire the know- 
ledge of his ways. "If thou criest after knowledge, if 
thou seekest her as silver, &e. then shalt thou under- 
stand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of 
God." Is not here a fair offer? "Turn ye at my re- 
proof; behold I will pour out my Spirit unto you." 
Though of yourselves you can do nothing, yet you may 
do all through his Spirit enabling you, and he offers 
assistance to you. God bids you "wash and make you 
clean." You say you are unable, as much as the leo- 
pard to wash out his spots. Yea, but the Lord doth 
offer to purge you ; so that if you are filthy still, it is 
through your own wilfulness, "I have purged thee 



Chap. YU.] QUESTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 14 

and thou wast not purged." "O Jerusalem, wilt thou 
not be made clean ? When shall it once be ?" God 
doth invite you to be made clean, and entreat you to 
yield to his proposals ; accept of his offers, and let him 
do for you, and in you, what you cannot do for your- 
selves. 

SIX QUESTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 

Q. 1. What is my state by nature? Is it not a state 
of death ? Eph. 2:1. A state of wrath ? ver. 3. Sirs, 
awake, and bethink yourselves where you are, and 
whither you are going. While you are in your natu- 
ral, unconverted, unbelieving state, all your sins are 
unpardoned, and the wrath of God abideth on you. 
Suppose you saw a poor creature hanging over a 
burning fiery furnace by nothing but a slender thread, 
like to break every moment, would not your hearts 
ache for such a one? Sirs, it is your very case ; you 
hang over the infernal burnings by nothing but the 
small thread of your lives, while you know not but it 
may break the next moment, and then where are 
you ? Is this a case for you to go on contentedly and 
merrily in ? 

Q. 2. What condition is my soul now in ? Am I 
changed and renewed by conversion, or am I not ? 
Speak, conscience ; hath this man, this woman, this 
child, been soundly and savingly changed, both in 
heart and life 1 W T here are your evidences ? Can 
you show the marks of the Lord Jesus upon your 
souls ? Let conscience answer. Where was the 
place 1 what were the means ? when was the time 
that your soul was thoroughly renewed ? At least, if 
you cannot show the time, place, or means, can you 



AS QUESTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. Idiap. VII. 

prove the thing ? Can you say with him that was 
born blind, One thing I know, that whereas 1 was 
blind, I now see ? Sirs, be not deceived : I tell yon, 
whatever you do, nothing will avail you to salvation, 
except you be new creatures. 

<4. 3. What if I should lose my soul 1 What sad 
work should I make of it then ? This is very possible ; 
yea, it is the case of the most. There are but few of 
the children of men that escape safe to heaven. Sirs, 
beware of your danger, and fear, lest a promise being 
left of entering into rest, any of you should at last 
come short of it. Suppose a man were to travel 
through some perilous wood or wilderness, having 
but one jewel in all the world, in which his all was 
bound up, and should see some stand on one hand and 
some on the other, and hear one company in this place 
and another in that cry out under the hands of some 
cruel robbers ; O, in what fear would this traveler 
go lest he should lose this jewel, and be robbed of all 
at once ! Why, thou art the man ; this traveler is 
thyself; this jewel is thy soul ; this wilderness or 
wood is this world thou art to travel through : swarms 
of sins, legions of devils, and a whole world of temp- 
tations — these are the robbers that lie in wait for thy 
soul ; and if all that these can do can keep thee out 
of heaven, thou shalt never enter there. O ! what if 
thy pride or VForldliness, thy delays and triflings in 
religion should at last betray thy soul into the 
robbers' hands 1 Other losses may be repaired ; but 
thy soul being once lost, God is lost, Christ is lost, 
heaven is lost, all lost for evermore. 

Q. 4. What am I doing for my soul ? What * 
have I a soul, an immortal soul to care for, and look 
no better after it, and bestow no more of my time or 



Chap. VII. | QUESTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 149 

pains upon it, no more of my thoughts about it? 
When Augustus the emperor saw the outlandish wo- 
men carrying apes and such kind of strange creatures 
in their arms, he asked, What ! have the women in 
these countries no children ? So it may be said of 
many among us, that are early and late at their worldly 
business, but let the care of religion lie by neglected, 
What ! have these men no souls ? Why, man ! hast 
thou a soul, and yet dost so little in thy closet, so little 
m thy family, from day to day, for it? What meanest 
thou. O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, that thou 
perish not. What will become of thy soul if thou 
lookest to it only at this careless rate ? 

Q. 5. What if God should this night require my 
soul, where would death land me ? There was one 
that promised himself many merry days and years, as 
it is likely thou dost, but that same night God called 
for his soul. Sirs, are you prepared ? Are you fit to 
die ? O dare not to live in such a case, nor in that 
course in which you would not dare to die. 

Q. 6. Should I not be in a happy case, if I had 
but secured my soul ? O if this were but once done, 
how sweetly mightest thou live ! Then thou mightest 
eat thy bread and drink thy wine with a merry heart, 
when assured that God accepteth thee and thy works. 
Then thou mightest lie down in peace, rise up in peace, 
and go out in peace. Then thou mightest look death 
m the face, thou mightest look dangers in the face, yea, 
look devils in the face, and never be afraid. Go then 
to Christ, seek the pardon of your sins through his 
death, commit your soul into his hands, believe in 
him, and then this happiness shall be yours : but go, I 
beseech you, without delay. 

13* 



250 conclusion. [Chap 711. 

CONCLUSION. 

And now, to conclude, let me know your mind; 
what do you intend to do ? Will you go on and die, 
or will you immediately turn and lay hold on eternal 
life ? How long will ye linger in Sodom ? " How 
long will ye halt between two opinions ?" Have you 
not yet resolved whether Christ or Barabbas, whether 
bliss or torment, whether this vain and wretched 
w r orld or the paradise of God be the better choice ? 
Is it a disputable case whether the Abana and Pharpar 
of Damascus be better than all the streams of Eden ; 
or whether the vile puddle of sin is to be preferred 
before the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding 
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb ? Can the 
world in good earnest do that for you which Christ 
can ? Will it stand by you to eternity 1 Will plea- 
sures, land, titles and treasures descend with you ? If 
not, had you not need look after somewhat that will 1 
What mean you to stand wavering, to be off and on ? 
Shall I leave you at last, like Agrippa, no further than 
almost persuaded ? Why, you are for ever lost if left 
here ! as good be not at all, as not altogether Chris- 
tians. You are half in mind to give over your former 
negligent life, and set to a strict and holy course ; 
you could wish you were as some others are, and 
could do as they can do. How long will you rest in 
idle wishes and fruitless purposes 1 When will you 
come to a fixed, firm, and full resolve ? Do not you 
see how Satan cheats you by tempting you to delays 1 
How long hath he drawn you on in the way of perdi- 
tion? Haw many years have you been purposing 
to mend ? What if God should have taken you off all 
this while. 



Chap. VII.j conclusion. 151 

Well, put me not off with a dilatory answer ; tell 
me not of hereafter ; I must have your immediate 
consent ; if you be not now resolved, while the Lord 
is treating with you and inviting you, much less are 
you like to be hereafter, when these impressions are 
worn out, and you are hardened through the deeeitful- 
ness of sin. Will you give me your hand 2 Will you 
set open the door and give the Lord Jesus the full and 
ready possession 1 Will you put your name unto his 
covenant ? What do you resolve upon ? If you still 
delay, my labor is lost, and all is likely to come to no- 
thing. Come, cast in your lot ; make your choice. 
" Now is the accepted time ; now is the day of salva- 
tion : to-day, if you will hear his voice." Why 
should not this be the day whence thou shouldst be> 
able to date thy happiness 1 Why shouldst thou 
venture a day longer in this dangerous and dreadful 
condition 1 What if God should this night require 
thy soul ? "0 that thou mightest know in this thy 
day the things that belong to thy peace, before they 
be hid from thine eyes !" This is thy day, and it is 
but a day. Others have had their day, and have re- 
ceived their doom and now art thou brought upon 
the stage of this world, here to act thy part for the 
whole of eternity. Remember thou art now upon 
thy good behavior for everlasting; if thou make not a 
wise choice now, thou art undone for ever. Look 
what thy present choice is ; such must thine eternal 
condition be. 

And is it true indeed ? Are life and death at thy 
choice ? Why then, what hinders but that thou 
shouldst be happy ? Nothing doth or can hinder but 
thine own willful neglect or refusal. It was the remark 
of ths eunuch to Philip : " See, here is water , what 



152 conclusion. [Chap. VII 

i 

doth hinder me to be baptized ?" So I may say to 
thee, See, here is Christ, here is mercy, pardon, life 
what hinders but that thou shouldst be pardoned and 
saved ? One of the martyrs, as he was praying at the 
stake, had his pardon set by him in a box, which indeed 
he refused rightly, because upon unworthy terms ; but 
here the terms are most honorable and easy, O sin- 
ner ! wilt thou burn with thy pardon by thee ? do but 
forthwith give up thy consent to Christ to renounce 
thy sins, deny thyself, take up the yoke and the cross 
and thou carriest the day ; Christ is thine ; pardon, 
peace, life, blessedness are all thine. And is not this 
an offer worth embracing 1 Why shouldst thou hesi- 
tate or doubtfully dispute about the case ? Is it not 
past controversy whether God be better than sin, and 
glory than vanity ? Why shouldst thou forsake thy own 
mercy, and sin against thy own life ? When wilt thou 
shake off thy sloth, and lay by thine excuses ? " Boast 
not thyself of to-morrow, thou knowest not" where 
this night may lodge thee. 

Now the Holy Spirit is striving with you ; he will 
not always strive. Hast thou not felt thine heart 
aroused by the word, and been almost persuaded to 
leave off thy sins and come to Christ ? Hast thou not 
felt some motions in thy mind, wherein thou hast 
been warned of thy danger, and told what thy care- 
less course would end in ? It may be thou art like 
young Samuel, who, when the Lord called once and 
again, knew not the voice of the Lord ; but these 
motions and desires are the offers, and essays, and 
callings, and strivings of the Spirit. take advantage 
of the tide, and know the day of thy visitation. 

Now the Lord Jesus stretcheth wide his arms to 
receive yon j he bcseecheth you by us. How movingly, 



Chap. VII. conclusion. 153 

how meltingly, how compassionately he calleth ! the 
church is put into a sudden ecstacy at the sound of 
his voice, u the voice of my beloved," O wilt thou 
turn a deaf ear to his voice ? Is it not the voice that 
breaketh the cedars, and maketh the mountains to skip 
like a calf? that shaketh the wilderness, and divideth 
the flames of fire 1 It is not Sinai's thunder, but a 
soft and still voice. It is not the voice of Mount Ebal, 
a voice of cursing and terror, but the voice of Mount 
Genzim, the voice of blessing and glad tidings of good 
things. It is not the voice of the trumpet nor the 
voice of war, but a message of peace from the King of 
peace. I may say to thee, O sinner, as Martha to her 
sister, " The Master is come, and he calleth for thee," 
Now then, with Mary, arise quickly and come unto 
him. How sweet are his invitations ! He crieth in 
the open concourse, " If any man thirst, let him come 
unto me and drink." How bountiful is he ! He ex- 
cludeth none. u Whosever will, let him come and 
take the water of life freely." " Whoso is wise, let 
him turn m hither. Come, eat of my bread,, and 
drink of the wine that I have mingled. Forsake the 
foolish and live." " Come unto me, take my yoke 
upon you, and learn of me, and ye shall find rest to 
your souls." " Him that cometh unto me, I will in nc 
wise cast out." How doth he bemoan the obstinate 
refuser ! " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem ! how often would 
I have gathered thy children as a hen gathereth her 
chickens under her wings, and ye would not !" " Be- 
hold me, behold me ! I have stretched out my hands 
all the day to a rebellious people." O be persuaded 
now at last to throw yourselves into the arms of his 
love. 
Behold, O ye sons of men, the Lord Jesus hath 



154 conclusion. [Chap. VII 

thrown open the prison, and now he cometh to you 
by his ministers, and beseecheth you to come out. If 
it were from a palace or paradise that Christ did call 
you, it were no wonder that you were unwilling; 
(and yet how easily was Adam tempted thence !) but 
it is from your prison, from your chains, from the 
dungeon, from the darkness, that he calleth you, and 
yet will you not come ? He calls you unto liberty, 
and yet will you not hearken ? His yoke is easy, his 
laws are liberty, his service is freedom, and (whatever 
prejudice you have against his ways) if God may be 
believed, you shall find them all pleasure and peace, 
and shall taste sweetness and joy unutterable, and 
take infinite delight and felicity in them. 

Sinners, I cannot tell how to give you over. I am 
now ready to close, but I would see a covenant made 
between Christ and you before I end. What ! shall I 
leave you at last as I found you 1 Have you read 
hitherto, and not yet resolved immediately to abandon 
all your sins and to close with Jesus Christ ? Alas ! 
what shall I say ? what shall I do ? Will you turn 
off all my importunity ? Have I run in vain ? Have 
I used so many arguments, and spent so much time 
to persuade you, and must I sit down at last in dis- 
appointment ? But it is a small matter that you turn 
me off; you put a slight upon the God that made you ; 
you reject the compassion and beseechings of a Savior, 
and will be found resisters of the Holy Ghost, if you 
will not now be prevailed upon to repent and be con- 
verted. 

Well, though I have called you long, and you have 
refused, I shall yet this once more lift up my voice 
like a trumpet, and cry from the highest places of the 
city before I conclude with a miserable exclamation 



Chap- VII.] CONCLUSION. 155 

4t All is over !" Once more I shall call after regard- 
less sinners, that (if it be possible) I may awaken 
them : " O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the 
Lord." Unless you be resolved to die, lend your ears 
to the last calls of mercy. Behold, in the name of 
God I make open proclamation unto you : " Hearken 
unto me, O ye children ; hear instruction and be wise, 
and refuse it not." 

" Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the 
waters ; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and 
eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk, without money 
and without price. Wherefore do ye spend your 
money for that which is not bread, and your labor for 
that which satisneth not? Hearken diligently unto 
me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul 
delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come 
unto me ; hear, and your soul shall live ; and I will 
make an evei lasting covenant with you, even the sure 
mercies of David." 

Ho, every one that is sick of any manner of disease 
or torment, or is possessed with an evil spirit, whether 
of pride, fury, lust, or covetousness, come ye to the 
Physician, bring away your sick ; lo, here is he that 
healeth all manner of sicknesses, and all manner of 
diseases, among the people. 

Ho, every one that is under conviction, and every 
one that is in distress, and every one that is discon- 
tented with himself, gather yourselves unto Christ, 
and he will become a Captain over you. He will be 
your protection from the arrests of the law ; he will 
save you from the hand of divine justice. Behold, he 
is an open sanctuary to you : he is a known refuge. 
Away with your sins and come in unto him, lest the 
avenger of blood seize you, lest devouring wrath over- 
take you. 



158 conclusion. LChap VII. 

Ho, every blind and ignorant sinner, come and buy 
eye-salve, that thou mayest see. Away with thy ex- 
cuses ! thou art for ever lost if thou continue in this 
state. But accept Christ for thy Prophet, and he will 
be a light unto thee. Cry unto him for knowledge, 
study his w6rd 5 take pains about religion, humble thy- 
self before God, and he will teach thee his way, and 
make thee wise unto salvation. But if thou wilt not 
follow him, but sit down because thou hast but one 
talent, he will condemn thee for a wicked and slothful 
servant. 

Ho, every profane sinner come in and live. Return 
unto the Lord, and he will have mercy on thee ; be 
entreated. O return, come. Thou that hast filled thy 
mouth with oaths and execrations, all manner of sins 
and blasphemies shall be forgiven thee, if thou wilt 
but thoroughly turn unto Christ and cxJme in. 
unclean sinner, put away thy whoredoms out of thy 
sight, and thy adulteries from between thy breasts, 
and give up thyself unto Christ, as a vessel of holi- 
ness, alone for his use ; and then, " Though thy sins 
be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow : and 
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as 
wool." 

Hear, O ye drunkards, how long will ye be drun- 
ken ? Put away your wine. Though you have 
rolled in the filthiness of your sin, take the cup of 
repentance and heartily renounce your beloved lust, 
and the Lord will receive you. Give up yourselves 
unto Christ, to live soberly, righteously and godly 
embrace his righteousness : accept his government 
and though you have been unclean, he will wash 
vou. 

Hear, ye loose companions, whose delight is in 



Chap. VII.J conclusion. 157 

vain and wicked society, to sport away your time in 
carnal mirth ; come in at Wisdom's call, and choose 
her and her ways, and you shall live. 

Hear, O ye scorners, hear the word of the Lord ; 
though you make a sport at godliness and the pro- 
fessors thereof, though you have made a scorn of 
Christ and of his ways, yet even to you doth he call, 
to gather you under the wings of his mercy. In 
a word, though you should be found among the worst 
of the black roll, yet upon your thorough conversion 
you shall be washed, you shall be justified, you shall 
be sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the 
Spirit of our God. 

Ho, every formal professor, thou art but a luke- 
warm Christian, and restest in the form of godli- 
ness. Give over thy halting ; be throughout a Chris- 
tian, and be zealous and repent : and then, though 
thou hast been an offence to Christ, thou shalt be the 
joy of his heart. 

And now confess that mercy hath been offered 
you. " I call heaven and earth to record against 
you this day, that I have set before you life and 
death, blessing and cursing ; therefore choose life, 
that you may live." I can but persuade and warn 
you ; I cannot otherwise compel you to be happy ; 
if I could, I would. What answer will you send me 
with to my Master ? Let me speak to you as Abra- 
ham's servant to Nahor's family, " And now if you 
will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me." 

for such a happy answer as Rebecca gave them ! 
" And they said, We will call the damsel and inquire 
at her mouth. And they called Rebecca, and said 
unto her, Wilt thou go with this man 1 and she said, 

1 will go." O that I had but this from you ! Why 

14 Alarm. 



168 CONCLUSION. [.Chap. VII. 

should I be your accuser, who thirst for your salva- 
tion ? Why should the passionate pleadings of mercy 
be turned into horrid aggravations of your obstinacy 
and additions to your misery ? Judge in yourselves; 
do you not think their condemnation will be doubly 
dreadful, that shall still go on in their sins, after 
all endeavors to recall them ? Doubtless " it shall 
be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, yea, for 
Sodom and Gomorrah, in the day of judgment, than 
for you !" 

Sinners, if you have any pity for your perishing 
souls, close with the present offers of mercy. If the 
God that made you have any authority with you, 
obey his command and come in. If yoa are not the 
despisers of grace, and would not shut up the doors 
of mercy against yourselves, repent and be converted ; 
let not heaven stand open for you in vain ; let not the 
Lord Jesus open his stores, and bid you buy without 
money and without price in vain ; let not his Spirit 
and ministers strive with you in vain, and leave you 
now at last unpersuaded, lest the sentence of condem- 
nation go forth against you. 

Father of spirits, take the heart in hand that is too 
hard for my weakness. Do not thou end, though I 
have done. A word from thy effectual power will do 
the work. O thou that hast the key of David, that 
openest and no man shutteth, open thou this heart, as 
thou didst Lydia's, and let the King of glory enter in. 
and make this soul thy captive. Let not the tempter 
harden him in delays ; let him not stir from this 
place, nor take his eyes from these lines, till he re- 
solve to forego his sins, and accept of life on thy self- 
denying terms. In thy name, Lord God, did I go 



Chap. VII.J COUNSELS FOR THE CONVERTED. 159 

forth to these labors : in thy name do I close them. 
Let not all the time they have cost be lost hours : let 
not all the thoughts of the heart, and all the pains that 
have been about them, be but lost labor. Lord, put 
thy hand upon the heart of this reader, and send thy 
Spirit, as once thou didst Philip, to join himself to the 
chariot of the eunuch while he was reading the word. 
And though I should never know it while I live, yet I 
beseech thee, O Lord God, let it be found at the last 
day that some souls are converted by these labors ; 
and let some be able to stand forth and say, that by 
these persuasions they were won unto thee. Amen, 
Amen. Let him that readeth say Amen. 

COUNSELS FOR THE CONVERTED. 

Value no mercy barely as it may promote your tem- 
poral welfare, but view it rather in inference to eternity, 
and as it may serve to advance your Maker's glory. — 
The cipher put to the figure is of great signification ; 
but set by itself it signifies nothing at all. Creature 
comforts separated from their respect to God and 
eternity, are of no value ; but, in order to these ends, 
they signify much. We have ease and fullness when 
many others are in pain and poverty ; and we have 
much the start of them, if we be wise to improve our 
health, in laying in apace against a wet day, and pre- 
paring apace for eternity, and serving the Lord with 
more diligence, and cheerfulness, and gladness of 
heart, in the abundance of all things : but, if this be 
all we have by it, that our bones lie a little softer, and 
our palates are tickled with a little more delight, what 
profit have we by our health and estates ? If they 
that are sick or poor, love and serve the Lord better 



160 COUNSELS FOR THE CONVERTED. [Chap. VII. 

than we, they have the advantage of us ; ana better 
were it for ns to be poor and sick as they are. 

Rest not in probabilities for heaven, but labor for 
certainties. — Beloved, certainty may be had, else the 
counsel of God to make our calling and election sure 
is in vain, else the experience of the saints were but 
delusion, who tell us they " know they are passed 
from death to life," else the power of self-reflection 
were to no purpose, and the spirit which is in man 
would not know the things of man. Now, if a cer- 
tainty may be had, will you not try by all means to 
obtain it? Sirs, you have need to push hard to get 
assurance, and to get it now. We are ever at mise- 
rable uncertainties for all outward enjoyments ; we 
know not how soon we may be called to part with 
them all. Professing Christians, will you be content 
to have nothing sure? Will you not settle your 
everlasting condition, seeing you are so unsettled as 
to your outward condition 7 What will you do in 
the day of visitation, when extremity comes in upon 
you, if you have no assurance that God will receive 
you ? It would make one's heart trembie to think of 
being upon such a fearful temptation as to part with 
all for Christ, and not to be sure of him neither. O 
man, what an advantage will the tempter now have 
upon thee, when he shall suggest, c Wilt thou be such 
a fool as to let go all at once ? Thou seest heaven is 
not sure, Christ is not sure ; therefore keep the world 
whilst thou hast it, and hold what thou hast sure. 5 
Beloved, what a fearful slighting of God, and con- 
tempt of heaven and glory, and all the promises, doth 
this argue, that you can be content to be at uncer- 
tainties whether they be yours or not ! How many of 
you are there that do not know whether you be going 



Chap. VII.J COUNSELS FOR THE CONVERTED* 161 

to heaven or hell ! And what desperate carelessness 
doth this argue, to go on from week to week in such 
a case ! Some hopes you have that you shall do well, 
but put me not off with hopes. Never be satisfied till 
you are able to say, not only I hope I shall be saved, 
but I know I am " passed from death to life ;" I 
know that " when the earthly house of this taber- 
nacle shall be dissolved, I have a building not made 
with hands." 

Be not satisfied with some grace ; but reach after 
growth in grace. — Do not think all is done when you 
have obtained the evidence of grace, but press toward 
the increase. That person who doth not desire and 
design perfection, never came up to sincerity. He 
that desires grace truly, desires it not barely as a bridge 
to heaven, and so to seek no more than will just bear 
his charges thither; but he desires it for its own sake, 
and therefore desires the height of it. That person 
who desires grace only for heaven's sake, and inquires 
what is the lowest measure of grace that any may have 
to come to heaven (by which he means to be saved 
from misery) upon this design, that if he could but 
come to that pitch he would desire no more; that 
person is rotten at the heart. Christians, the Lord doth 
expect of you that you should not be babes and dwarfs ; 
he looks now especially that you should make some 
progress. What do you more than heretofore 1 What ! 
do you feel his spurs in your sides, and his whip at 
your backs, yet never mend your pace in religion, nor 
stir one jot the faster 1 Let me commend you to Paul's 
study, It argues a base and unworthy spirit to content 
ourselves with small things in religion. 

Labor that holiness may become your nature, and re- 
ligion your business.— Then you are come to somewhat 
14* 



102 C0UN9ELS FOR THE CONVERTED. [Chap. VII 

indeed in religion, when the work of God is become 
your natural and beloved employment, your meat and 
drink, your work and wages ; when your tongues and 
hearts naturally run on God, as others on and of the 
world. Much of that may be attained by constant care 
and prayer. Brethren, let God's work be done by you, 
not by the by, but as your greatest business : " Seek 
first the kingdom of God ;" that so, whatsoever you do, 
you may be able to give the same account of yourselves 
that our Savior did when they inquired of him — that 
you are about your Father's business. 

Confine not religion to your knees, but carry on an 
even thread of holiness through your whole course. — It 
is the disgrace of religion that Christians are so unlike 
themselves unless it be when they are in holy duties. 
This wounds religion to the quick, when it shall be 
said of professors, These men indeed will pray like 
angels, but, for aught we can see, they are as peevish 
and touchy as any other men, and they are as hard in 
their dealings, and make as little conscience of their 
words as others do. Beloved, do not think religion 
lies only or chiefly in praying, hearing, or reading; 
for you must be throughout religious. Sirs, bring forth 
your religion out of your closets into your ordinary 
course ; let there not be a life of holiness on the outside 
of the cloth, but let holiness be woven into the whole of 
your conversation. Herein consists the excellency and 
difficulty of religion; when you have the baits of intem- 
perance before you, then to hold the reins hard and 
deny your flesh ; when you have provocation before 
you, then to restrain your passions and bridle the un- 
ruly member; when you have dealings with others, 
then to proceed by that golden rule of equity and cha- 
rity to do unto others as you would have them to do 



Chap. VII.J COUNSELS FOR THE CONVERTED. 163 

in like case to you ; when you are called upon by your 
several relations, then to behave yourselves with that 
tenderness and love, with that reverence and obedience, 
with that courtesy, condescension, and kindness which 
becomes you in your various capacities. In this, I say, 
lies the excellence of religion. 

Ever walk with your chief end in view. — It is true, 
according to the usual similitude, the traveler thinks 
not of his journey's end every step, nor need he; yet 
he never loses sight of it. it is never out of his mind. 
Brethren, there is nothing hinders but that, with 
prayer and watchfulness, you might come to this in 
every solemn action, to mind God as your chief end. 
Impose this on yourselves as your daily rule to walk 
by, never to lie down but with these thoughts, " Well, 
I will make use of my bed as an ordinance of God, for 
my natural refreshment, that a servant of his may be 
fitted for his work." Never to rise up but with these 
thoughts, " I will set out this day in the name of the 
Lord, and make it my business throughout the day to 
please him." Never to set about your callings, but in 
the entrance think thus, " I will set about my employ- 
ment in obedience to God, because it is his will I should 
walk with him in my place and station." Never to sit 
at your tables but thinking," I will now eat and drink, 
not merely to feed my flesh, but to cherish a servant 
of Christ Jesus, that he may have strength for his 
service." Charge this upon yourselves, and examine 
in the evening how you have minded it, and check 
yourselves wherein you come short. Once learn this 
and you are come to something, and shall have the 
undoubted evidence of your sincerity, and shall know 
bv experience the blessed mystery of walking with 
God. 



164 COUNSELS FOR THE CONVERTED. 

Be and do more than ordinary in your closets and 
families. 

In your closets. — Be more than ever in self-examina- 
tion. And here let me put it to your consciences : Are 
you habitual in examining yourselves by the word of 
God? Do you try yourselves by it daily? Ah, wretch- 
ed negligence ! What, have you given your approba- 
tion and yet forget your duty ? God expects it of you, 
that, now you know his will, you should with more 
zealous fear, and tender circumspection, and holy 
watchfulness and self-denial, walk before him 5 else 
you will greatly excite his indignation. 

Finally — In your families. The Lord calls you to set 
your houses in order. O see what is amiss in them, 
and strive to cast out whatever may be a pro vocal ion. 



THE £%&, 



MAY 22 1911 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Nov. 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 239 231 8 f 



